Trois Rivieres, Guadeloupe

GUADELOUPE
To get to Guadeloupe we flew Air Antilles from St Lucia on an empty plane to Martinique where we stayed in our seats while it filled up with French speakers for the short hop across to Guadeloupe. Each segment took about 20 minutes and we were on the tarmac in Martinique about 20 minutes as well. We skipped Martinique and Dominica on this trip because I've been to both with Sara on our Honeymoon - this trip is for places new (mostly).

The southern coast of Basse-Terre

I was really surprised at how big Guadeloupe airport was - it was bright, modern and very well equipped. I got some Euros out of one of the many ATM's and then picked up one of the multitude of Peugeot 306 rental cars from Hertz. Back to left hand drive so I had to remember to drive on the right again, but this time with the added challenge of a car with manual transmission. After a quick driving refresher we left the airport and was amazed by the dual carriage way highway and the lack of potholes. The better roads also meant faster speeds which made driving a little bit nerve wracking.

Guadeloupe is made up of two main islands, the mountainous Basse-Terre in the west and the flatter beachier Grande-Terre in the east, separated by a small river/canel called Sallee. There are a number of smaller islands dotted around the place that make up Guadeloupe but the majority of the population live on Basse or Grande-Terre. Interestingly there's a town called Basse-Terre on Basse-Terre but not a town called Grande-Terre on Grande-Terre.

Originally I wanted to stay on the Grande-Terre side in a town called St Anne, but instead we made for the southern tip of Basse-Terre in the shadow of La Soufriere volcano - the tallest peak in the Lesser Antilles at 1,467m (4,812ft) - to an impossible-to-find guesthouse called Coco e Zabrico. I had to call the owner at 10pm to find us in Trois Rivieres and guide us through the town to the guesthouse. I never would have found it on my own with the directions she had emailed me. It was down a dirt road on a quiet hillside with no signs to guide the way - it was a fantastic little place though and we were greeted with homemade pumpkin soup and french bread for supper.

Our balcony at Coco e Zabrico

Seb and I climbed La Soufriere the next day. Unlike Gros Piton on St Lucia my little man made it all the way to the top with very little help. The smell of sulfur was strong near the summit and it was cold and windy while we were there. It took about 2 and a half hours to climb and probably about an hour to get down but a very different hike than St Lucia. The path snakes slowly around the volcano instead of straight up like Gros Piton. The clouds rolled in during our brief stay at the top so there were no majestic views, no great photo opportunities, just the satisfaction of taking Seb to the top of another volcano (we climbed Mt Scenery in Saba last year too). The only place to eat in town was the only place that was open, but the pizza at whatever it was called was excellent.

Country check at La Soufriere

Seb and I at the summit of La Soufriere

Looking back into the caldera - strong sulphur smell

Now we're getting ourselves ready for a trip back to the airport and another short flight to Antigua. I liked Guadeloupe but for me it was neither here nor there. It isn't as laid back or easy to navigate as the previous islands we'd been on and it wasn't sophisticated enough to get away with being overly French either. It's almost as if the place needed the lawns mowed, hedges trimmed and garbage collected. I'm sure the French tourists love it but to me, someone whose French consists of speaking English with a French accent, I was happy enough to leave and get back to the British Caribbean.

It was another perfect day for flying - 20 minutes from Pointe-a-Pitre to VC Bird airport in Antigua with great views of Montserrat out of our window. Tomorrow is our day trip to the place that was almost blown off the map in 1995.

GUADELOUPE QUICK GUIDE
Capital: Pointe a Pitre
Currency: Euro
Language: French
Drive on the Right
Beer of choice: Corsaire