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Trip to Saint John's

From Let's try the Caribbean - Antigua with a 1 and 3 year old in Saint John's, Antigua and Barbuda on Sep 27 '08

Travelling Family has visited no places in Saint John's
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The pavements in Antigua.  This was taken in the tourist area.
The pavements in Antigua. This was taken in the tourist area.
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On the Tuesday we decide to goto Saint John's.  I was thinking that maybe we could try to book some trips there, imaging it to be full of people trying to sell fishing trips and the like.  I couldn't be more wrong. It's a strange old place, there is a clear tourist area, where there are smart shops and clean pavements.  But outside of this it's pretty poor, in fact quite run down.  The pavements are made of wooden slats in places, and we realise that the drains are running under our feet.  I won't go into detail, but lets just say it wasnt a great environment for the kids.  When we return home I disinfect everyone including the pram. I think I was a bit naive taken the children to the town really, but I didn't expect it to be as it was.

View from the harbour.
View from the harbour.
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Parts of Saint John are quite nice, if you want clothes and tourist gifts there are places to buy stuff.  We aren't really into collecting ornaments, or t-shirts so this didn't appeal.  Because the place is so small it's easy to see the different classes in Antigua.  There is a real mix of very smartly dressed office types, through to shop workers and taxi drivers, right down to the down and out's who are clearly affected by drink/drugs.  No different to London really, just more condensed. I imagine it's quite similiar to most places in the Carribean.

We find a lovely restaurant to eat - Big Banana
A sign outside a tennis court.
A sign outside a tennis court.
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We find a lovely restaurant to eat - Big Banana I think it was called.  It was as nice, if not nicer than say Pizza Express in London - very clean and well decorated.  The staff and the food was lovely.  Definitely recommended.


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