Port Royal was founded by the French in 1649. It was conquered by the British in 1762, and they renamed the town “St George’s” in honour of King George III. St George’s is the capital of Grenada and a short drive from our airbnb. We spent a couple of hours exploring the small capital.
Photo by GPa.The Carenage in the inner harbour had numerous unique sights.Christ of the Deep statue is a replica of the Christ of the Abyss statue gifted by the Italians to the Grenadians in gratitude for their help when the Bianca C, one of their cruise ships, sank after an explosion in the boiler room. Grenadians rescued almost 700 passengers and crew. Photo by GPa.There are only three traffic lights on the whole island! We drove by one (non-working) light at a bridge during our drive north of the island. See the traffic warden in action in the video below.These are the ruins of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Tower. It was built in 1833 by the Scotsmen who were sent to Grenada foremen, masons and workmen. Subsequent hurricanes over the years have destroyed it.Entrance to the Grenada National Museum. Unfortunately, it was temporarily closed.Fortunately, right beside it was the House of Chocolate Museum. These are its door handles. Photo by GPa.Cocoa pod to chocolate bar requires a fair bit of processing; fortunately, it’s chemical free (at least here in Grenada). Photo by GPa.Cacao trees produce the pods from which cacao beans are fermented, dried, polished, and roasted. The results after roasting are cocoa beans, which are then further processed to produce cocoa powder and chocolate. Above are cocoa cakes that will eventually be ground into cocoa powder.
Some of the interesting things learnt in this museum:
In 1502, Christopher Columbus encountered a native canoe for trade that contained cacao beans (he thought they were a type of almond).
In 1519, Hernán Cortés witnesses Montezuma drinking ‘chocolatl’ and introduces the beans and chocolate drink to Spain in 1528. The Spanish Monks added cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar in their version.
In 1689, Sir Hans Sloane learns about a bitter drink Jamaicans make by boiling roasted cocoa beans in water. He thought the drink had an unpleasant flavour, so he boiled the beans in milk and sugar instead, thus creating the “hot cocoa” drink. This drink was initially sold by apothecaries as a medicine.
In 1815, Dutch chemist Van Houten added alkaline salts to chocolate to reduce its bitterness.
In 1828, Van Houten then invented the cocoa pressing method to separate cocoa solids from cocoa butter. The result is a light fluffy powder that is easily soluble in milk or water.
In 1826, Philippe Suchard uses a heated granite plate and granite rollers to grind cocoa paste.
In 1845, Rodolphe Lindt invented the conching machine and other processes to improve the quality of chocolate and founded the Lindt chocolate factory.
In 1847, Joseph Fry mixes cocoa paste with the previously removed cocoa butter to make moldable chocolate.
In 1868, the Cadbury brothers being manufacturing pre-packed chocolates in England.
In 1875, Daniel Peter, a Swiss chocolatier, invented milk chocolate by adding milk powder with chocolate.
In 1879, Daniel Peter and Henri Nestlé form the Nestlé company.
In 1893, Milton Hershey begins using modern mass-production techniques to produce chocolate-coated caramels.
In 1930, Nestlé makes the first white chocolate from cocoa butter.
The six parishes in Grenada – we eventually visited all of them. Photo by GPa.Of course, the visit wouldn’t be complete without trying the homemade ice-cream flavoured with chocolate sourced from local plantations.Well fortified, we continued our walk through St George’s, making our way upwards towards Fort George. She epitomizes the people of Grenada.Although Christopher Columbus first sighted Grenada, the Spanish never colonized the island. It was the French, the first Europeans to colonize Grenada, that built Fort Royal, Grenada’s oldest fort in 1705. The French had “bought” the island from Amerindian Chief Kaieroune for some knives, hatchets, a couple of buckets of glass beads, and two bottles of brandy. Fort Royal was renamed to ‘Fort George’ to honour King George III (sound familiar?).Fort George formed part of the eight fort defence system of Grenada (only three forts remain today). Fort George currently houses the Royal Grenada Police Force. Neil spoke to a policewoman about Nolan being able to fly his drone – written permission was required and we still hadn’t received a reply by the time we left Grenada.Looking inlandCruise ships in the harbourInner harbour and Carenage (centre); and Sendall Tunnel (around the white vehicle is at the bottom centre). Photo by Nolan.These are some of the amazing views from Fort George – worth the climb!We meandered our way down a long set of stairs, through a park, past this abandoned building towards somewhere in St George’s.We ended up at Sendall Tunnel – a 104 m tunnel built in 1894 to connect two parts of the city. As you can see, it’s narrow as it was built for horse-drawn carriages. It did enable us to return to the Carenage without having to reclimb the steep hill.Street vendor selling conch shells, a type of sea snail. Conch meat is called ‘lambi’ in Grenada); unfortunately we missed trying this while we were here.
3.5 km, 2 hr 14 min.
Related
1 comments on “St George’s”
Thanks for extracting all the text about chocolate. Many of the inventors are the names of Chocolate companies a hundred years later.
I am glad to share my photos of our group travel, so you don’t need to credit individual snapshots.
Thanks for extracting all the text about chocolate. Many of the inventors are the names of Chocolate companies a hundred years later.
I am glad to share my photos of our group travel, so you don’t need to credit individual snapshots.