Depaz Distillery and the Winding Road of the country side of Martinique:
26 January 2011 | Martinique
Henriette - Overcast and showers
We managed to find a hire car (they are very scarce) to do a drive and see through the countryside from the west coast all the way to the east coast and back across the inland to the Sothern part (Fort de France) and then all the way up the west coast following a wonderful winding seaside road!
Our first stop was Depaz Distillery! What a place! It is very visitor friendly with great explanations of every facet of the distillery! The estate house is a MANSION! And very European and just absolutely beautiful - The 350 year old estate and plantation was completely destroyed in the Mount Pelée volcano outburst in 1902 and was rebuilt by other members of the same family in 1924. It is absolutely fantastic well organised, clean and surrounded with beautiful gardens! I have taken many pictures and will have it on my website soon!
The country road was mind blowing pretty! It was like driving through a botanical garden with super large trees, ferns, bamboo and heliconias and anthuriums growing wild and in abundance!! Now I know why they call Martinique "Island of Flowers").
It was a fairy tale Alice in Wonderland rainforest to die for! The beauty continued just about ALL the way - that was at least 4-5 hour solid driving through this dream! Just fantastic! The wrong side of the road did tense Johann up a bit (it was my job to constantly remind him to keep right after we have stopped for a while! HaHa!...habit got us on the wrong side quite often!!)
My limited physio skills was in demand for some mayor neck and shoulder massaging when we got back at the yacht!...not my favorite pastime but a small price to pay for a great day!!
Happy that we have made the most of our stay here...we are getting ready to take on the seas leading us to Dominica!...the first of the Leeward Islands!