We had a relaxed start to the day with a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon at the apartment.

Around midday, we set off into Bridgetown. The bus stops here are very basic, and there is no set bus timetable, although the buses come by around once an hour.

We caught a Reggae bus to Brudgetown – these are bright yellow buses that play loud reggae music. 

They also drive pretty quickly, and the roads have a lot of potholes, so it’s quite a bumpy ride. But they are very cheap, only $3.5 BD for any distance.

It took about an hour to get to Bridgetown. Bridgetown is the capital and largest city in Barbados.

Bridgetown has UNESCO World Heritage status. It was previously called ‘Indian Bridge’ after the primative incident bridge built by early Indians. The British removed the structure and constructed a new bridge over the Careenage river sometime after 1654 and the area became known as the town of Saint Michael and later, Bridgetown. In 1872, it was finally replaced as a swing bridge.

There were some very pretty ‘pigeon’ type birds flying around.

We wandered along the streets, through a fruit market, and popped into a few shops.

We walked down to the Careenage River, past Trafalgar Square and the Cenotaph war memorial.

There was also some interesting art in the area.

We walked over Chamberlain Bridge to the Independence Arch.

Barbados gained its independence on November 30, 1966 and this arch was constructed in 1987 in acknowledgement of such an achievement.

We wandered down the waterfront and came scross a bar at the end of the Dock, so stopped for a beer.

Faye really wanted to go to Chefette. This is like KFC but is only in Barbados. We saw one on the other side of the bridge so.popoed in fir a piece of chicken each.

After our chicken we passed the Parliament buildings. Bridgetown’s parliament has met continuously since 1639 – making it the third oldest in the world

From here we headed down to St Michael’s Cathedral. The first building was consecrated in 1665 but was destroyed in a hurricane in 1780. It was elevated to Cathedral status in 1825. The Cathedral is made from coral stone.

The cathedral also has the largest pipe organ in the Caribbean.

By now it was mid afternoon so we headed to the bus station as we wanted to get to Oistins for around 5pm. Thus time we got a Government bus. We got chatting to some of the locals and tourists in the bus queue and they were all really friendly, giving us hints and tips on what to do.

The bus took a little while to get to Oistins as it was rush hour, and also a lot of people head there on a Friday for the Friday Fish Fry, as we were doing.

Oistins is the heart of Barbados’ fishing community and was once known only for its fish market where locals would gather to buy fresh fish and seafood for dinner. The fish market is there every day, but now it is also famous for its fish fry.

We walked along the pier to feed the sea turtles.

A few of the fishermen were chucking bits of fish out into the sea to attract the turtles.

We had a little wander along the craft stalls and the beach before sitting down for some food.

It was difficult to know which place to sit at, but we chose one that looked fairly busy.

It was a really casual and good vibe.

Before the food arrived, I quickly went to watch the sunset.

The food was really delicious. I had mahi-mahi with some salads and potato.

As we were eating, the place started to fill up, and they were keen for you to move on, so we took our drinks with us and wandered over to the stage area.

There were random people dancing and performing on the stage, which was quite entertaining.

We headed back down to the other end of the beach to the bar, and there was actually a much nicer vibe here, and the music was really good.

There were some really good dancers here and they did a bit of street performing.

After a while, though, it just became a local outside dance area. Couples were up dancing, and it was lovely to watch as they looked so graceful.

A gentleman did ask Faye and I to dance. He was a very cool dude and taught us the steps.

We stayed out dancing and chatting until around 11pm – everything finishes earlier here. We got a taxi home and had a little nightcap before heading to bed.

It was a brilliant evening.