island tour number two

Last week I made up a list of things to do/places to eat while my dad was visiting. I really wanted to be able to show him the whole island. Unfortunately, without a vehicle that's not such an easy task.  I tried to convince him to rent a car but he wasn't having it (he thinks we will get into an accident and never be able to leave Barbados, but is that a bad thing?) So I called up a taxi driver that had driven me to and from the airport a few times to see if he would be up for an island tour. Luckily for us, he was!

Arlington picked us up Saturday morning and we headed up the west coast. Our first stop was at the Animal Flower Caves at the North point of the island. This cave was discovered in 1780 by one of the seaward entrances and stairs weren't built to go down from the cliff until 1912. This place is definitely high on my list (if not the highest) of the coolest things in Barbados that I've seen so far.

 As always, the cliffs were breathtaking. But I was more interested with what was underneath. After a bit of a trek down seriously steap stairs you come into this huge cave with openings to the sea. The formations down here are incredible and definitely tell a story. We were lucky it was fairly calm because it can be a pretty dangerous place if the waves are large enough.

While I was off exploring one side of the cave, Dad found another sea opening that could only be accessed by swimming through a small pool. I ditched my camera and joined him on the other side!

Next stop was Cherry Tree Hill. The pictures speak for themselves. It was an amazing view down the East coast of the island.

Sidenotes: my hair was so nappy at this point because it was so windy up there. Also, I need to teach my family how to use my camera because it's quite the production every time I want to be in a picture!

We then cruised down the East coast to check out one of the most popular "postcard views." There's no swimming on this side of the island for the most part due to the wicked current. But there is a popular surf spot on this coast, called the Soup Bowl.

I love all the random rocks (although it seems insignificant to call them rocks, because they really are huge) that have been eroded away by the waves. This one above was all alone.

And this is the view you will see on many post cards looking North up the East coast. I believe this was at Edge Cliff looking up at Bathsheba.

Our last stop before lunch was at St John's Church, which was built in the 1830s. I'm happy we visited during the day because the tombs freaked me out. Honestly, it was pretty creepy, but it was a beautiful old building.

We stopped for lunch at the Souse Factory for Pudding and Souse (it rhymes with house not moose, Dad seemed to have some issues with that....). If you ever come to Barbados pudding and souse is a Saturday staple. Now I just need to find a place that makes it closer to my house!

The day was long. We covered pretty much the whole island in five hours and we were beat. The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool!