/Grenada

Spice up your life with a serving of Grenada, with its many fields of nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, ginger and cocoa. The "Isle of Spices" has soil so rich that a few dropped seeds and you have an instant garden. Or so they say.

The capital is St George, blessed with sloping hills around a magnificent harbour. This is where the action is, or at least the commercial and social activities. This mini-nation includes Grenada with 120 square miles, Carriacou with 13 square miles and Petit Martinique with only 486 acres.

Both France and Britain fought for possession of this choice tropical real estate. The British took control in 1791 and built Fort Frederick to make their occupation stick. Americans, during the Ronald Reagan administration, again brought war to the island when its Cuban allies were chased away by bombing and invasion. Today, Americans go there to play not slay.

Be sure to shop for perfumes and handicrafts involving spices. They are widely available at The Carenage, waterfront venue of a few duty-free shops and unique boutiques with items unavailable anywhere else. When it's time to dine, expect a wide variety of seafood, fruits, vegetables-often served with steel band, calypso and jazz music in the background.

The language is English but a French patois is sometimes used. Currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar but the US dollar is accepted as coin of the realm, despite the place being a British realm.

Anguilla | Antigua | Aruba | Bahamas | Barbados
Bonaire | British Virgin Islands | Cayman Islands
Cuba | Curacao | Dominica | Dominican Republic
Grenada | Guadeloupe | Guyana | Haiti | Jamaica
Martinique | Puerto Rico | Saba | St Barthelemy
St Eustatius | St Kitts | St Lucia | St Martin
St Vincent and The Grenadines | Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos | US Virgin Islands | Home