Fort-de-France and its market
The island’s capital, Fort-de-France spreads its streets around La Savane, a great palm-lined park facing the bay. The Schoelcher Library, a metalwork masterpiece designed by Henri Picq and offered by France to the city in 1893, is well worth the detour. The covered Grand Marché bursts with colours and scents: spices, caramelised sugars, grilled fish and sauces chien shared standing up.
Saint-Pierre and memory
In the north, Saint-Pierre, the former little Paris of the Antilles, keeps the trace of the 1902 eruption through the ruins of the theatre, Cyparis’s cell and the rebuilt cathedral. The Franck-Perret Museum tells the drama and the life that preceded it. Further south, at Anse Caffard, the Cap 110 Memorial and its fifteen white statues facing the Gulf of Guinea recall the 1830 shipwreck and the slave trade.
Habitations and agricultural rum
Martinique is the only region in the world to produce an agricultural rum with an AOC. The habitation distilleries, such as Clément in Le François, Trois-Rivières in Sainte-Luce or Depaz in Saint-Pierre, can be visited with their gardens, cellars and tastings. On Lyad, Martinique members share their favourite habitations and tables: it is up to you to find someone to raise the next ti-punch with at sunset.
Date ideas
- Fort-de-France
- Covered Market
- Saint-Pierre
- Habitation Clément
- Agricultural rum
- Schoelcher Library
- Cap 110 Memorial