On Day Two of our driving adventures we invited and
Ken and Lynn chose to join us once again, and we opted this time to head to the Northern tip of the Island for some more serious sight-seeing adventures.
On our way to Saint-Pierre,
on the North-West side of the island,
we were held mesmerized as we travelled along the roads,
by some pretty amazing views.
Saint-Pierre used to be known as "the Paris of the Caribbean". In its history though, it's been destroyed a few times over.
In 1780 The Great Hurricane and ensuing surge almost wiped out the town. Somewhere around 9000 people died.
In May of 1902 Mount Pelée erupted. This time over 30,000 people died. Interestingly two people survived: one a prisoner (Louis-Auguste Cyparis) who later joined the travelling Barnum & Bailey circus, and Léon Compère-Léandre. A young girl escaped in a dinghy and was later found adrift. She did not survive.
Walking through the ruins at the waterfront was interesting,
captivating,
and eerie, all at the same time.
Sad.
The old and abandoned met with the new.
The wet weather helping to add to the dreary feel that something so monumental had happened here, a few times.
And what have we here? I think they were all being bad so I sent them to the corner for a time-out !!
We walked through the ruins of what used to be the opera-house,
Intensely remarkable artifacts left behind, cries of anguish,
almost palpable memories of what must have been an intensely remarkable place,
And there, in the distance, Mount Pelée beckons...
Shall we? Dare we??