Barbados among tops on TripAdvisor

Fire eater Pedro Arthur.

Barbados has been recognized as a winner in the 2015 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice awards for Islands, ranking third in the top 10 of all competing island destinations.

For the third straight year TripAdvisor has highlighted the world’s top islands based on the millions of reviews and opinions collected in a single year from travelers around the globe.

BTMI Chief Executive Officer William Griffith

William Griffith, CEO of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), acknowledged the award stating, “Barbados’ steady climb in popularity from eighth position two years ago is a clear indication of the level of engagement of all of the island’s tourism accommodations, restaurants, tour operators and ancillary services. They are the ones that must be congratulated for the superior service being exhibited in all establishments”.

He added that his team has been working hard to broaden the image of the island across the globe so that the island is renowned as much for its culture, events and culinary offerings as it is for its beaches, landscape and weather.”

TripAdvisor’s Chief Marketing Officer Barbara Messing congratulated Barbados stating that the results reflected independent views of over 340 million unique monthly visitors.

“Our well-traveled community has uncovered the best islands around the world for that perfect island escape whether you want to lie on the beach or seek adventure,” said Messing. “To help travelers book their trips to these remarkable destinations, TripAdvisor has surfaced amazing island hotels to accommodate a range of travel budgets.

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The Gun Hill Signal Station: Barbados

The Gun Hill Signal Station is strategically perched on a hilltop in the parish of St. George and is one of the six (6) signal stations erected across Barbados after the 1816 Slave Rebellion. This 19th century signal station arguably offers the best views of the entire island of Barbados and contains a captivating collection of military memorabilia. When it was known as Briggs Hill, it was named as one of the four points where guns were to be placed to give alarm in the event of an invasion.

Gun Hill Signal Station is strategicaly perched on a hilltop in the parish of St. George on the island of Barbados. This particular signal station was a bit more complex than the others as a number of men were stationed there which necessitated the construction of soldiers barracks, quarters for the officers, kitchens and other structures.

In 1981 the Barbados National Trust leased the station from the Government of Barbados and restored it with the help of a grant from government.

The Lion at Gun Hill

A depiction of strength and dominance sums up this landmark lion at Gun Hill. It was sculpted in 1868 by Captain Henry Wilkinson with the assistance of four military labourers.

Under this oversized lion, there is an inscription with the sculptor's name and a verse from the Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible. Translated in English, it means 'He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river, unto the ends of the earth'. Clearly this speaks to the magnitude of authority the British had over Barbados and the world.

The Lion at Gun Hill and the Signal Station are very easy to find. Using St George Parish Church as a major landmark, the attraction is a mere 5 minutes drive up the hill on the left-hand side of the road after passing the church. Signs are clearly visible along the route.

The Gun Hill Signal Station and site is now one of the registered locations which falls under the care and control of the Barbados National Trust. In recent times the Trust has started hosting special events at the Gun Hill location and has taken advantage of the all-encompassing view and the overall appeal of this tranquil setting in the parish of St George in Barbados. Outside of those activities, the Gun Hill site can be freely added as a place of interest to visit during a visit to Barbados.

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Oistins Fish Mar­ket By Day : Barbados

Arti­cle reblogged from Uncom­mon Caribbean

Vis­i­tors to Bar­ba­dos who miss the weekly fish fry Fri­day nights (and Sat­ur­day nights too, but Fri­day is gen­er­ally bet­ter) in Oistins are miss­ing what has become the best weekly, open air par­ties on the island. But don’t be so quick to dis­miss Oistins as a one trick pony. For Uncom­mon Caribbean trav­el­ers, a visit to Oistins any day of the week dur­ing the day offers a spe­cial, more authen­tic cul­tural expe­ri­ence… And as a bonus, bet­ter prices.

Before the weekly par­ties came along, Oistins was already a major fish­ing com­mu­nity in Bar­ba­dos’ Christ Church parish. On any given day for a cou­ple hun­dred years, an armada of small, tra­di­tional fish­ing ves­sels have bobbed in Oistin Bay, fish­er­men have weaved nets on the shore, and stands have pro­vided fresh fish for lucky patrons.

Your best bet to recon­nect with this tra­di­tion, is to hit the Berinda Cox Fish Mar­ket (just west of the col­or­ful shops that host the fish fry fes­tiv­i­ties) early. Shel­tered from the hot Bajan sun beneath some sim­ple roofs, you’ll find a bus­tle of activ­ity. A cou­ple of men in bright blue aprons will be effi­ciently clean­ing all man­ner of sea life with rapid knife cuts, quick scrapes to remove entrails, and blasts of water from hoses hang­ing from the ceil­ing. Around them, patrons will alter­nate between hail­ing up friends, idle chat­ter, eye­ing the cleaner’s actions closely and offer­ing stac­cato shouts of instruction.

FISHCLEANER, OISTINS FISHMAR­KET BYDAY, BAR­BA­DOS BYPATRICK BEN­NETT

“Save dem bones.”

“Yeah, yeah, mus have de head fo soup.”

“Das my fish!”

While hang­ing a lit­tle fur­ther back on the edges of the shade, hun­gry cats and oppor­tunis­tic egrets await their own moment to sam­ple the market’s catch of the day.

Your first incli­na­tion might be to approach a fish cleaner to inquire about a tasty morsel for your­self, but that’s not their job. Instead, look on the perime­ter for some­one near a bag full of bags with a hand­ful of cash. He’s the man who han­dles inquiries, man­ages pric­ing and doles out fish for the clean­ers to pre­pare to your specs. Just don’t for­get to tip the cleaner when he’s done.

On a recent visit, we got a large dol­phin fish (or mahi-​mahi) cleaned, de-​boned and sliced into per­fect steaks for $56 Bar­ba­dos dol­lars. That’s just $25 US! Think how much just one of those mahi-​mahi cut­ters costs at restau­rants across the island and now do the math.

If fry­ing or grilling up some fish for your­self isn’t your thing, Oistins dur­ing the day still offers much to the Uncom­mon Caribbean traveler.

PLAY­ING INTHE SURF, OISTINS FISHMAR­KET BYDAY, BAR­BA­DOS BY KATH­LEEN BEN­NETT

A walk along the shore offers an end­less amount of pho­to­graphic oppor­tu­ni­ties. Chicken lounge in the shade, dozens of pic­turesque fish­ing boats inno­cently sport­ing women’s names float rest­lessly in the bay, children splash in the surf, some fish­er­men catch a few Z’s atop coun­ters in the rel­a­tive shade of their closed fish stands, while oth­ers make (or lose, as the case may be) a few extra dol­lars at card tables.

LEXIE’S BAROISTINS FISHMAR­KET BYDAY, BAR­BA­DOS BYPATRICK BEN­NETT

Smack in the mid­dle of it all, is Lexie’s bar which proudly pro­claims on its unchar­ac­ter­is­ti­cally unpa­tri­otic Heineken sign to be open 24 hours! Here, you can snag a Banks (or Heineken if you want to be swayed by adver­tis­ing) bright and early — first thing in the morn­ing just like the other fish­er­men prop­ping up the bar. To accom­pany your bev­er­age, try the fried fish for break­fast with a healthy dose of pep­per sauce.

Close your eyes with these tastes lin­ger­ing in your mouth and you just might feel like Oistins is throw­ing you a pri­vate fish fry!

Oistin’s Fish Fry – experience the real Barbados

Oistin’s Fish Fry – Experience the real Barbados

All the locals were asking if we were going to Oistins…the only thing was…I didn’t know what it was.  Now I do.

Oistin’s Friday night fish fry is a chance to experience the real barbados.  Before the tourists started coming along, Oistin’s was the local hangout on a Friday night.  By day, this is the local fish market, seven days a week.  Come Friday night and welcome to food fest.  Grab a bite and a beer at one of the many stalls selling fresh fish served up Bajan style.  You can have it grilled or fried…serve it up with local specialties such as sweet potato pie, macaroni pie or breadfruit salad.  Watch the hot sauce – it is potent!  It’s a street market atmosphere and it is the place to be on a Friday night in Barbados!

No need to rush…the party goes all night.  If you are there too early, the lines are long for food and the tables are crowded.  But not to worry, there are more than enough distractions with flea market style stalls selling Barbados mementos, jewelry and classic tourist t-shirts.  There is even a guy walking around with a monkey on his back!  For a donation, you can hold and feed the cute little guy.

Everyone was so friendly and happy to squish down to make more room as we found a table to fit our group of 4.  We devoured our food, washing it down with more beer and Mount Gay rum before wandering around to the main street.  The place was packed.  It was shoulder to shoulder as we wandered along, stopping to watch a Michael Jackson impersonator, boom box and all, get upstaged by an 80 year old woman who had moves on her like you couldn’t believe!  Everyone stopped to watch…local police included.

Everywhere you went, locals and tourists were milling about, banks beer and rum punch free flowing, the sound of music and chatter filling the air.  We made our way back to the heart of Oistins.  It was time to let the hair down as the music was in full swing.  There was something for everyone as we passed a traditional dance area before hitting the main stage.  They say that Rhianna got her start here at Oistin’s.  The music was electric and inhibitions were quickly lost.  According to locals, it is quite common for tourists to get up on stage, although the talent in the spot light was so crazy, I couldn’t imagine getting up there.  The dance floor was packed and the party raged.  It is no wonder Oistin’s is such an institution – we danced the night away.

Everyone was so friendly.  We ended up dancing with some locals who gave us more tips on places to see on the island and parties for Saturday night.  The battle of the paper vs smart phone ensued as we tried to figure out where to go next!  (Paper won!)  Funny how the best way to figure out what to do is to be out with the locals…they always know the best places.

 We arrived at Oistins after dark, although I have heard that the sunset is particularly beautiful at the beach.  If you get there early, grab some fish scraps and you may even be able to feed the turtles.  We also organized with our taxi driver to wait for us and bring us back to our hotel at the end of the night.  (I did the same in Antigua when I went to the party at Shirley’s Heights.  I am guessing this is common practice on the islands!)  I would also suggest comfy shoes and cash…I didn’t see any credit cards used here.  They do take both Barbados and US dollars.

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RD | Short Documentary - Barbados Travel Guide

Rum shops : Barbados

As there is a seemingly endless amount of churches found on the beautiful and intriguing island of Barbados, so too, are there many rum shops to be found. We're not sure that this analogy of relations between the two is the best as the cultures of both these establishments are at two completely different ends of the spectrum. Nevertheless, this is all in an effort to bring to your attention the vast number of rum shops that exists in Barbados. As you traverse the island, you can be guaranteed to find a rum shop sooner or later. We are tempted to write, sooner rather than later.

Rum shops across Barbados are easily identified by either drinkers standing around with a glass of some alcoholic beverage in hand or the outsides well defined by the adornment of a variety of local advertising such as Banks Beer, Guiness, Coca Cola, Sprite, Frutee, Wibisco and Bico to name a few.

Rum shops across Barbados are simply social grounds. Here is where the people of Barbados gather to have a drink or in local parlance 'fire one'. Rum shops have also become a gathering ground for playing dominoes or in local parlance 'slam uh dom'. Dominoes is a very popular game that attracts quite a bit of attention as players are not only loud but the very action of slamming dominoes on the sometimes make shift table is one that creates quite a stir. You would be amazed at the level of conversation that goes on at some of these rum shops. Conversations can vary from politics to cricket to gossip. Simply put, just about anything goes in a rum shop.

Though rum shops across Barbados have a primary focus of selling rum and alcoholic beverages, the introduction of other goods have crept into these establishments. Some with a view of survival in the sometimes challenging market and others with a view of satisfying customers. As such, some rum shops now carry items such as household and food items.

No matter what your view of the typical rum shop in Barbados is, one thing is for sure and that is, a rum shop is the one place where you can eat and drink at a reasonable price.

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Fish Cutter | Barbados style!

Photo by LoopBarbados

A fillet of fried flying fish in a salt bread bun. Fish cutters are made with a variety of fish. You can use flying fish, steak fish, dolphin, tuna and sardines. However don't be alarmed about the dolphin. The dolphin we use is the fish called Dorado or Mahi Mahi and is not any relation or similarity to the porpoise. Dolphin, the mammal, infrequently seen in Barbados' waters are valued and never caught.

The most common of these cutters is the flying fish cutter. Flying fish is Barbados' national fish but it can also be found in other Caribbean islands. The flying fish is scaled, soaked in lime and salt then seasoned with Barbados' own seasoning before being fried.

Bajan seasoning is a blend of fresh herbs such as thyme, marjoram, spring onions, onions, garlic, parsley, basil and scotch bonnet pepper with spices such as clove, black pepper, paprika and salt. The fish is fried until it is a golden brown colour. You can nice up your cutter by adding lettuce, tomato or even cucumbers just like the famous cheese cutter sold here in Barbados. You can also toast the bread and add a dressing.

If you travel around the four (4) main towns in Barbados which are Speightstown, Holetown, Bridgetown and Oistins you are sure to find a fish market where a variety of fish are sold and cleaned by fish vendors. A popular option for lunch is a fish cutter which is fried flying fish or a fillet of fish sandwiched between a Bajan salt bread.

A Prime spot in Barbados to experience a great fish cutter is Cuz's Fish Shak in Pebbles Car-Park.

Below is an article from the Nation News (local newspaper)

"If you haven’t eaten at Barbados’ Cuz Fish Stand you are probably missing out on a world rated dining experience. That’s according to Newsweek magazine which listed the “fish shack” just outside of Bridgetown as one of the 101 “best places” in which to eat around the world. Cuz Fish Stand, located off Highway 7, near Needham’s Point, specializes in a Blue Marlin Sandwich, and it earned a spot on the list compiled by 53 “luminary chefs” from different parts of the globe and published in Newsweek’s current edition. Marcus Samuelsson, chef of Harlem’s famous Red Rooster in New York, selected “Cuz”, describing it as a “fish shack with a line out the door. From a cook’s point of view, everything is wrong with their sandwiches, like the cheese on them, but they’re so delicious”. Actually, Barbados and the Cayman Islands were the only two places in the English-speaking Caribbean that made the cut. Vivine’s Kitchen in Grand Cayman, whose speciality is conch stew, was chosen by Graham Elliot, a top chef in Chicago who called it a diner that “seemed like a garage connected to Vivine Walter’s house, with our table located a few feet from a pigeon coop”. Vivine’s Kitchen, he said, gave the owner an opportunity to “personally” take the order and then go into the kitchen and “cook up some amazing Caribbean cuisine”. The global survey, according to Newsweek, deserved a “global panel of judges” to compile what the magazine called “the finest, oddest, most memorable dining hotspots from Australia to Monaco” and countries in between. Bon appétit!"

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Mr.Delicious doesn’t serve pig tails : Barbados

Found this interesting blog piece on the great inter web ; Her Happy Trails would be its name. Happy Reading!

Although several of my recent posts of Barbados have been mostly of major events or daily excursions, (if you haven’t seen them, I suggest checking out Down de Road and Paint me up mudder cup) they’re just a small part of what this beautiful island has to offer. I’d like to share with you a bundle of our “down time” days between the Carnival celebrations. 

Here’s a walk to the famous Miami Beach where there sits a popular palm tree that you’ve seen pop up in my blog several times. 

This setting seems to provide quality opportunities for classic photos. 

Moving right along with the traditional jump shot that Hayden and I started back at Machu Picchu to Yosemite, followed by Stonehenge and now Barbados!

Hungry along the way? No problem man! Mr. Delicious sells some quality Roti’s and fish cakes on the beach. 

After a therapeutic walk to the famous palm tree, we were lucky enough to run into friends at a secret look out on the south coast. A little table hidden away in the casual Surfers Cafe. 

On the island, you can often keep hydrated by the abundance of coconut products that are around every corner. My favorite are the venders that will also divi out the meat and jelly from inside as well. Follow me to the coconut boys!

Wendy’s is a local joint that provides traditional Bajan food, a full bar and indoor/outdoor seating. If you’re lucky to land here on a Friday night, you’ll also get serenaded with good ol’ karaoke. 

Take a look at the edible (at least they say so) item below. I’ll give you one guess at what Ryan is unwrapping… Give up? 

Pork tail. Yes, that is a sauced up squiggly piece of meat from the tail of a pig. Umm, no please.

If the wagger of Wilbur doesn’t appeal to your appetite, there’s always a solid chance that you’d pass a Chefette on the way home. This would be the “McDonalds” of the island. I choose to avoid drive through restaurants, but this one had a salad bar, so Bree and I decided to dig in! My favorite part is the secret booths. “How dare you see what I’m eating!”

This is where I see fit to put in the only picture we captured of our new friends Nick and Shana. We spent hours with toes in the sand and stomach aches from the natural comedy that took over our time together. On this day, they joined us for a Chefette experience and as you can see (by the cradling of their meal) they’re fans of the popular Roti!

I’ll complete this post with a few random photos that may snag your eyes attention while gazing around the island. Enjoy!

When your heart aches a bit flying away from this divine country, there’s always one last glimpse of the natural beauty that takes up this space of our beautiful planet. 

For more posts on the random fun facts, the people, food and sights of this marvelous place, please click hereand snoop around! Until next time Barbados…

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