It was on Grenada, the Grenadines (these are two different countries) and Union Island that we found the most beautiful and white sandy beaches. It is indeed like on the postcards, but all those islands are very similar. Apart from the different names, I did not spot many more differences.

We tended to have a dog on various Caribbean islands. I’m not sure if they were abandoned or “public dogs.” They looked like cared-for domestic pets on wealthier islands and very sick and abandoned on Saint Lucia. Anyway, it was natural to have one follower for a day, sometimes appearing even at the beach. Friendship was based on some crackers.

Looking into those begging eyes, it reminds me of the struggle to find good food in the Caribbean.

Grenada is famous for spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. However, I could not say anything special about the local cuisine. We were visiting in October before the tourism season started. Maybe that was the problem; maybe it would have been very different during tourism peak months.

I expected to taste a lot of exotic fish and seafood in these islands, but it turned out that unless you go to expensive touristic restaurants, the local places are all about fried chicken, French fries, and roti. Roti is an Indian dish, which is chicken curry with pieces of potatoes wrapped in Dhalpuri. In restaurants, it costs more and you get better meat inside; if you buy on the streets then it is much cheaper but with some “extras” like skin and bones included in the wrap. In the end, wherever we went it was only roti, fried chicken, and French fries around. Our first time in one local restaurant we waited for an hour while they started to cook their “special offer” of the day. We were so excited to try something local, and in the end, we were served the same roti on a plate.  The hamburger in a photo below was just a one-off.

Of course, it is my personal judgment, but in the end fried chicken and hamburgers are… no, sorry, I cannot say this. It is not good food, and shame on islands to feed people with that crap when there is so much fresh fish around, and the perfect climate to grow all the vegetables and fruits possible.

In general, I was disappointed with the Caribbean fried frozen food type of diet. We could find some fish in the local markets and cook it ourselves when we had a kitchen available. Seafood was practically non-existent. Check where to eat carefully, and if looking for something fresh and healthy, it’s better to head to touristic hotel restaurants.

St. George, capital of Grenada

It is worth several hours’ walk around. It was built in the 18th century and consists of an interesting mixture of British and local-style houses.

Read about other Caribbean islands we visited:

• Saint Lucia,
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
• Barbados,
• Martinique. Is it worth going to the Caribbean?