Tag Archives: Gustavia

Fort Karl in St. Barth’s

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St. Barth’s is the French Caribbean’s premier vacation destination. It’s so fancy (you already know)! The world’s rich and famous flock to its white sand beaches all year round! When I had the chance to visit with my friend Emily, however, I was more excited about the historic forts than the upscale resorts. Are you a history buff, too? Read on to see the stunning views from St. Barth’s Fort Karl!

Fort Karl is located in the town of Gustavia. It’s pretty easy to find. St. Barth’s is only about nine square miles, and Gustavia is the port city where just about everybody arrives. A quick ATV ride or brisk walk will bring you to the foot of the stairs. Take the brief climb up the stairs, and you’ll be on top of the world! Well, on top of the island, at least.

Fort Karl has been around for quite some time! It was built in 1789, when the island belonged to Sweden. Since then, it has become rather overgrown with bushes, cacti, and scrubby trees. In recent decades, the island has made the ruins of the fort a popular tourist attraction, creating paths through the fort and signage to interpret the history and nature of the area.

Although the fort is no longer necessary for island defense, it is an excellent vantage point for sightseeing! You get great views of the town, and apparently it’s also a popular place for whale-watching. We didn’t see any whales, much to our sadness, but we did see a bunch of boats arriving for the annual St. Barth’s regatta.

The view from the top really put the tiny size of Gustavia in perspective! It’s incredible how tiny and old this charming historic town is. They’ve really kept it nice through all these years. It’s a tiny place with a whole lot of history! I wonder what it was like to live here during the era when it was all but forgotten by Europe?

From the top, we could also see our next destination: Shell Beach! This beach is entirely carpeted by tiny shells. We could hardly wait to get down and zoom over to this beautiful beach! St. Barth’s has so much to see.

Stay tuned for a photo-filled post about beautiful Shell Beach! You don’t want to miss a taste of this stunning Caribbean destination. Like and follow for more posts on St. Barth’s and the Caribbean! Until next time.

 

Gustavia

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St. Barth’s is a magical island. Full of pirate history, tales of buried treasure, and beautiful beaches, this tiny Caribbean island is perfectly enchanting. Since it’s been a couple of years since our last adventure to Anguilla, my friend Emily and I decided to take a last-minute trip to St. Barth! Believe it or not, we managed to do a full day trip for under $100 each. We began our St. Barth explorations in Gustavia, the capital and port town.

We had reserved an ATV to take around the island, but before we picked it up, we decided to explore Gustavia. There’s actually a lot to see in a small space. There are two or three forts (we only made it to two of them, but I’m pretty sure I spotted another), plus a beautiful little beach called Shell Beach. I’ll tell you about those a little later, because Gustavia deserves its own post.

St. Barth was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1943. Although he often named islands after the saints whose feast days fell on the day of discovery, Columbus named this island after his brother. My guess is that he discovered it the same day he saw St. Martin, and had to pick another esteemed namesake.

Although it was “discovered” (I use that term loosely since there were already people living on it) in the 15th Century, it wasn’t until 1648 that colonists on St. Kitts immigrated to St. Barth. In the 18th Century, a successful colony was finally built on the island by the French. Not long after, the French traded it to the Swedish. The port city was named after King Gustav, and the Swedish flag still flies in places to commemorate the hundred years of Swedish rule. In the 19th Century, the island was returned to the French.

Throughout Gustavia, you can see both French and Swedish colonial imprints in the architecture and in the streets. Lovely old building have been preserved for hundreds of years, and old canons still sand like ancient sentries on the hills above the city. Today, the forts are used for hiking and whale-watching rather than for protection.

Gustavia has changed a lot over the years, despite the old houses and roads. Now, there are malls and fine restaurants lining the wharf and the back streets. Gustavia is a destination for the rich and famous! Being neither of these, we opted to wander and window shop, keeping our wallets in our pockets. Aside from an acai bowl (something you can’t get in Saint Martin, where we live) and a couple of postcards, window shopping was the order of the day.

We enjoyed wandering around and exploring. There were so many interesting things to see! I liked the gigantic coloring page outside a curio shop. Everybody who passed by stopped for a moment to color a little bit.

It was also fun to play tourist for a little while! Emily and I live in the neighboring island of Saint Martin, where we see tourists all over the place and are often mistaken for travelers. In St. Barth, we really were tourists! There’s no shame in a great, big Canon camera and a big, floral print backpack when you’re a tourist. Who are we kidding, though? I walk around like that at home, too.

Stay tuned for more St. Barth adventures. Don’t forget to subscribe or follow me on Facebook! I have a lot more Caribbean adventures that intend to pack in over my last few weeks living in Saint Martin. Until next time!