1/25/24: Martinique and Its Poignant Memorial

On the morning of January 25th, Steven and I had a magical view from our cabin of Fort de France, the capital of Martinique, our third stop on our Lesser Antilles cruise. The gorgeous island was first 'discovered' by Columbus in 1502 when the Caraibes inhabited the island after pushing out the peace-loving Arawaks. For good reason, the latter people had named their home Mandinina or the Isle of Flowers as wild orchids, flamingo flowers, and hundreds of varieties of hibiscus thrived on the island.

During Martinique's colonial days, the island was the administrative, cultural, and social center of the French Antilles. Home of Napoleon's first wife, Josephine, the island was ruled by planters who often flaunted their wealth. Martinique has the largest remaining number of békés, the descendants of the early French settlers in the French Antilles, and they are still the privileged class on the French-Caribbean islands. Many of the approximately 4,000 békés dominate Martinique's most successful businesses, from car dealerships to banana plantations and rum distilleries. 

About twenty-five percent of the island's 375,000 inhabitants live in Fort-de-France and its environs. The capital is the economic and social hub of the island. As Martinique is one of five French overseas départements, the official language is French, but most residents speak Creole.

 

Months earlier, we'd signed up for a tour of the southern part of the island as the northern part, i.e. its wild side, appealed to more adventurous types wanting to hike and climb mountains. We'd have loved that, too, in the 'old days,' but visiting an important slave monument and having time to wander around the capital on our own was preferable to other available tours. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one that also included seeing the sights of the north and east sides of the island.

This was the first time this week that our guide wasn't also our driver. Mariella, our guide, was a Francophone who wasn't fluent in English - not ideal with an English-speaking group of tourists! 

According to the tour book, the Arawak people had been pushed out by the Caraibes but Mariella stated that the Arawaks were Martinique's "native tribe" and they generally live on the north side of the island at the foot of volcanic Mont Pelée.

As we headed south toward Les Trois-Îlets, we passed many sugar cane fields, the island's first industry and which still fuels the island's economy. These were brown sugar fields specifically. Mariella told the group that the brown sugar industry had gone bankrupt after slavery was abolished. Banana production is now the island's main industry. She extolled the virtues of the island's 'Cavendish Banana' as its banana jam and goat cheese are a great combo!

The northern town of Sainte Pierre was the island's sophisticated capital and was known in the 17th century as "Little Paris of the West Indies" because of its economic and cultural importance. When nearby Mont Pelée erupted in 1902 killing in three minutes all but one of its 30,000 inhabitants its moniker became 'The Pompeii of the Caribbean.' The only survivor was a man imprisoned for alcohol abuse as the jail's walls were so thick. I guess his drinking paid off!

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 Martinique's most famous citizen, Napoleon's first wife, Empress Joséphine was born in Les Trois-Îlets, where she was baptized in the village church as Marie-Joseph Tascher de la Pagerie, one of the most prominent families on the island. According to our tour book, Martinicians (there's a good trivia word for you!) have always been extremely proud of Joséphine despite Napoleon being responsible for reintroducing slavery to the island. 

Unfortunately, the driver buzzed past Les Trois-Îlets known for its pottery, straw, and woodwork. I'd have liked to see the church where Joséphine was baptized, the impressive mairie or town hall, and the unusual brick-and-wood buildings roofed with antique tiles. Instead, we were taken to an artists' collective close by. 

Bricks made on the island used to be sent to France in the 17th and 18th centuries but now they are only used locally. The orange-red clay is unique to the south-central part of the 50-mile-long island.

Aha - we were lucky after all to see a little of Les Trois-Îlets as we headed west to Grand-Anse d'Arlets, a small town on the southern coast.

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Mariella described that it was so tough to drive on the narrow, mountain roads in Martinique that new drivers have to learn hill starts.

Mariella shared a few fun facts about the island on the drive to the coast: it has 121 rivers, iguanas are endemic to the island as are certain bats and snakes; red orioles, possums, and mongoose are common animals; school is mandatory from 3-16; and Creole is spoken all over the island and taught in school.

We had an absolutely delightful hour in Grand-Anse d'Arlets named for a former tribal chief. Center stage was the village church in the town square right across from the beach. I must be getting set in my ways as I found it disrespectful seeing people in swimsuits pop into the church to have a look around.

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Seeing the same license plates as we would have in France was surreal! Though the beach in the cove looked appealing and the day was perfectly sunny, we decided to walk around its few streets instead.

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If you're looking for a very laid-back place to relax and soak up the sun in the Caribbean, this might be the place for you. Unless we missed a lot on our wander, we only spotted two restaurants at most and no other attractions. It brought me back almost 50 years when I spent the summer of 1974 as an au pair learning French in the equally small town of Merlimont Plage on France's Pas de Calais!

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A little further was Diamond Rock, a steep-sided basalt, uninhabited island a mile off Martinique's southern coast, rising almost six hundred feet above the electric-blue waters of the Caribbean. The ancient lava plug was left by an extinct volcano.

If you read the previous post about our stop in Curaçao, you might remember the tremendously moving memorial to that island's slave revolt. The opportunity to visit Martinique's Anse Caffard Memorial was the sole reason why we selected this particular shore excursion. High on a hill in southwest Martinique were 20 white stone effigies, silently facing Diamond Rock and the Caribbean.  

The powerfully moving memorial by Martinican sculptor Laurent Valére was completed in 1998 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in the French West Indies. It memorialized an 1830 catastrophe when a slave ship failed to properly anchor in Anse Cafard and careened into Diamond Rock killing 40 African slaves chained in the cargo hold.  

 

The statues represent the slaves who perished in the sinking ship and who were not provided a proper burial. Standing eight feet tall, the towering figures with bowed heads and hunched shoulders bore stoic expressions as they stared out to the sea that took their lives.  

The statues were arranged in a triangular formation to represent the triangular trade among Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas, at a 110-degree angle, directly in line with the Gulf of Guinea.

I particularly liked how there were no gates, chains, or fences at the memorial, nothing that prevented us from interacting with the statues. 

Even now two plus months later, I find these stone figures still haunting.

It was hard to reconcile the memorial to the horrific tragedy with the idyllic Diamond Beach a few minutes away. 

On the island's southwest coast was the community of Trois-Rivières whose claim to fame was its eponymous rum distillery. Rum, now the second most important industry in Martinique, is made from sugar cane juice, not molasses. After sugar cane is collected between February and June, the juice is extracted.

The Trois-Rivières distillery produces 17 brands of rum, each with its own fermentation time. The most potent is a whopping 70% proof. 

While others were sampling the wares, I wandered the property.

It wasn't until we'd visited Curaçao that we had any clue how huge Carnival was in the Caribbean. It was equally big here in Martinique where everyone always has a folding chair in the back of their car so they can take it out to stop anywhere to drink and party. On one day of Carnival, men dress as women and vice versa. Another celebration is the burning of puppets to represent the bad vibes that occurred during the previous year. The 40 days of Lent is a time to recover from excessive drinking and feasting during Carnival! 

Before we were dropped off in Fort-de-France, Mariella pointed out the Romanesque St. Louis Cathedral which was built in 1878. We tried twice to enter later to view its marble altar and carved wooden pulpit but the church, classified as a historical monument, remained closed.

The 'modernist liner style' Hotel L'Imperatrice has been an institution in Martinique since 1956

The most visible sight in Fort-de-France was the wildly elaborate Bibliothèque Schoelcher or public library named after Victor Schoelcher who led the fight in the 19th century to free slaves in the French West Indies. The eye-popping structure with a Byzantine dome was built in Paris for the 1889 Paris Exhibition before being dismantled, and shipped to Fort-de-France, where it was reassembled piece by piece!

As Steven and I are huge readers, we took great pleasure in wandering through the stacks and imagining our younger selves writing papers there.

Another grand building that made us think of the island's close links to France.

The city's former Court of Appeals:

Because we were short on time, this was as close as we got to Fort St. Louis which was constructed in 1638 to defend against the English and French, The English took control of it in 1772 and renamed it Ft. Edward before the French later regained control.

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We've never been particularly attracted to sailing but we could certainly understand its attraction after seeing the boats bobbing in the bay, recently designated one of the "Most Beautiful Bays in the World."

Walking through a good chunk of Fort-de-France's main core, we were struck by the many island women who looked like they'd just stepped off a runway in Paris. They had that readily identifiable je ne sais quoi only the French do and made me feel like the proverbial country bumpkin! I read about the many high-end French boutiques carrying luxury goods but we didn't see any in the city center. We did buy four meters of Madras-patterned material also common to the island, though, that will make lovely placemats and napkins!

Even though we're cruising novices, Steven and I lucked out with our cabin choice on Viking's Valiant Lady. It was located immediately under the flag at the bow so we had the best possible views on arrival and departure at each port.

Martinique wouldn't be my first choice of a Caribbean island to return to but its beautiful beaches, French Connection, interesting towns on the south side, the powerful Anse Caffard slave memorial, and the opportunity to explore Sainte Pierre and Mont Pelée in the north would make it a very worthy contender. 

Bidding adieu to Fort-de-France just before sailing away to our last island of the trip:

Next post: Our last Lesser Antilles island, St. Kitts.

Posted on March 31st, 2024, on the last day of our month-long vacation in suburban Phoenix. For all who celebrated Easter this weekend, I hope you were able to spend time with family and/or loved ones.