On the way to Manaus, Brazil all the flights we were looking at had to stop over in one of the countries along the path. Although Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana were on our list of South American countries to visit, Suriname and French Guiana came up short in things to see, so we decided to drop them and visit Trinidad and Guyana instead.
Our first stop, Port of Spain, which is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, is the second largest city in the country and an important financial center in the Caribbean. We left LA at midnight and with a short stopover in Miami, arrived in the afternoon. We were told that hiring a taxi at the airport will set you back around $40-50 USD, so our AirBnb host had offered to book a taxi for us for TT$250 – $235 (US$35-37).
Doubles
By the time we settled into the apartment, had a shower and got ready, it was evening so we decided to familiarize ourselves with the neighborhood instead, buy some basic groceries (milk, bread, etc) and have an early dinner. We found that a lot of restaurants open only from morning till 4 or 5 pm and became a bit concerned. But we eventually found a streetside cart selling ‘Doubles’ – a Caribbean twist to an Indian dish known as Channa Batura which was exactly what we were craving. This is chana masala (chickpea curry) poured over 2 rotis (flat bread) and dressed with some mint chutney (spiced to your preference) and some grated green mango. It was so good that we both had 2 orders each.
‘Steel pans’ also known as steel drums or pans is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Pannists (or drummers) practice all year long and participate in competitions and also perform during the Carnival celebrations in Trinidad. There are several panyards where teens practice every evening between 8 and 10 pm. There was one very close to our apartment which we visited that night. In what looked like an open-air empty lot, there were varieties of steel pans ranging from approximately one foot to tall barrels. Since this is still early in the season for the carnival, most were only starting to practice. We found several people, likely visitors and tourists watching and enjoying the performance.
On our second day here, as there were no free walking tours like in the other cities we had visited, we decided to take our own self-guided walking tour as I found a couple of them on the gpsmycity.com website. While looking for Uber, we found an alternate version of a taxi service called ‘Drop’ which is very much like Uber but only for Trinidad and Tobago. So we thought of giving it a try and within no time, we were in a car and on our way downtown. We got off at Independence Square which cost around TT$30 (US$ 5).
Independence Square
Listed are some of the beautiful architectural buildings we encountered on our tour in the downtown area: :
- Cathedral of Immaculate Conception: located on the eastern side of the square. Built in 1816, this Cathedral is renowned for its Gothic style architecture such as the two stunning towers on both sides of the facade and a notably large clock above the entrance.
- Nicholas Tower: facing the square on the southern side, is one of the tallest skyscrapers in Port of Spain and houses the stock exchange of Trinidad and Tobago.
- The Old Fire Station: another important landmark and a historical jewel of the city. Built at the end of the 19th century and reconstructed in 2000, it still preserves its beautiful old style. It is currently part of the National Library complex.
- Central Police Station: built around 1876, this gothic style historic building is another famous landmark
- Red House: Built in 1844, this is home to the country’s Parliament and Senate. It is called the Red house after it was painted red to celebrate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee.
- Public library: founded in 1851, the colorful arched balconies showcased the typical splendor of the South American colonial architecture.
- Holy Trinity Church: built between 1816 and 1823, this church is one of Trinidad’s prominent landmarks. Unfortunately this church was closed for renovation when we visited.
The remaining sites on our list were actually closer to our AirBnB and almost 1.5 kms from the church. We decided to get away from the scorching heat, go home and take some rest and then explore the rest in the evening. Shared taxi stands were readily available in front of the church which dropped us at the nearest cross street to our apartment for only TT$5 (USD $0.75) per person.
After resting a bit we had lunch at a restaurant called ‘Shiann’s’ close to our apartment. This was a West Indian restaurant serving roti and curry. The food was decent, although it could have been a bit spicier for our palates.
We resumed our walking tour in the evening around Queen’s Park Savannah. This is a large park and is a favorite place for walkers, joggers and families having a nice evening stroll. The ‘Magnificent Seven Houses’ are mansions located alongside Queen’s Park Savannah on Maraval Road in the St Clair neighborhood. They were built between 1902 and 1910 on land that was previously used as a government stock farm and are listed as heritage sites at the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago.
- Queen’s Royal College: Built in 1902, this is the oldest secondary school in the city and is still producing some of Trinidad and Tobago’s leading thinkers, athletes, artists and politicians.
- Hayes Court: This is the official residence of the Bishop of Anglican Church.
- Ambard’s House: Built in the beginning of the 20th century by French architect Lucien Ambard, today is the only building among the ‘Magnificent Seven’ to remain a private residence. It has materials brought from Italy and France and has some lovely decorative features such as colorful carvings, marble ornaments, and iron cast elements.
- The Archbishop’s House: Built in 1904, it is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church of Trinidad and Tobago.
- White Hall: Built in 1904, this building has housed the British Council Cultural Center, Trinidad and Tobago’s Central Library and government offices during its history. This building was being renovated at the time we visited.
- Stollmeyer’s Castle: This magnificent building was once the home of the Stollmeyer family but today is used as the Prime Minister’s office. This castle is my personal favorite among the seven.
- Mille Fleurs: This building was being renovated at the time and so we were unable to see it..
Maracas Bay
We visited Maracas bay on our third day here. This is the most famous beach along the north coast of the island. The drive is on a mountainous, narrow, yet picturesque road about 25 km from Port of Spain. Maracas Bay is a fairly small stretch of beach as the land on either end stretches further into the ocean forming the bay. This is considered to be the most beautiful beach of its size in the Caribbean and is wildly popular for the local street food known as “Bake and Shark”.
You can hire a taxi which costs anywhere between TT$ 400 to 600 (approx USD $20-30) round trip depending on the total time of hire. You could also try the ‘Drop’ taxi service which is approximately TT$150 (USD $7.50) one way. We weren’t sure if cars would be easily available from Maracas Bay, so being the budget travellers that we are, we looked for alternatives and found the bus service that worked out to be reasonably priced. Here I would like to give a shout out to Thannas blog (link may not work if you are out of the country) who has given clear instructions on how to get to Maracas Bay. Following his directions we went to the PTSC (Public Transport Service Corporation) which runs daily bus service every 4.5 hours to Blanchisseuse which is about an hour away from Maracas Bay. You can purchase tickets at the PTSC bus stand located one block away from Independence square in Port of Spain. Ticket price to Maracas Bay is TT $4 (2 cents!). We took the 12.30 pm bus and arrived at Maracas Bay at 1.15 pm. We checked with the bus driver and were told that the bus was going to Blanchisseuse and would return around 4 pm.
There are several shacks here and they all sell the famous ‘bake and shark’. We first walked a bit exploring the beautiful bay and then settled down at one of the shacks. We started with a couple of beers and took in the beautiful scenery. Then we ordered lunch which consisted of a bake and shark for Govi and I had a bake and shrimp.
It was basically breaded and fried shark or shrimp. It was good, but in my opinion it was like any other fried shrimp dish. After lunch, we rented one of the plastic lounge chairs for TT$20 ($3) each and settled down on the beach. There are very clean changing rooms and showers available for TT$5. We spent a little time on the beach lounging and swimming and when it was time to go, we changed out of our wet clothes and headed to the bus stop. The driver had told us that he would arrive by 4 pm, so we were there 20 minutes ahead of schedule and luckily he showed up early. Our ride back was uneventful and we got back to Port of Spain by 5 pm. We couldn’t figure out where to buy bus tickets, so we asked the driver and he mentioned that we could buy them at the bus station when we returned to Port of Spain. As we were driving back, we passed by the taxi stand where we could get a shared taxi back home. So we asked the bus driver to drop us off there and we offered to pay the bus fare in cash to him directly, but he would not accept it and let us off without paying, which was awfully nice of him. So I would suggest that you buy a round trip fare to avoid this.
Later in the night we went and had gyros and falafel from one of the stands on Ariapita road close to our apartment. On the next day we took a flight to Georgetown in Guyana to visit the beautiful Kaieteur Falls.
