The next morning we hadn't planned a tour and that turned out just as well as our polo evening was transferred to that night but much earlier so it would have been a rush if we had had another tour as well.
We elected to walk back into town and it was a lovely walk (not really worth a taxi ride)
I didn't go into this shop but certainly beautiful hand painted fashions
Our tour in town included a visit to the Parliamentary Museum and Gallery of Heroes. We had hoped to visit parliament but we were told we were not well enough dressed-no shorts please! But we really enjoyed the Museum and Gallery of Heroes especially how contemporary Barbadian artists had done an interpretive art piece about the particular hero. Barbados has a very interesting history and this museum really explained some of its key players who fought for equality and rights for the former slaves particularly and blacks and poorer people in general.
You are continually offered taxi rides and island tours on the island and we decided to take a taxi back to the ship and we were struck by the helpfulness of a young Barbadian man and his Canadian girl friend. We really enjoyed our conversation with this particularly taxi driver.
We had a good time shopping in the pier shopping gallery and in one shop in particular, Made in Barbados where goods are designed on the island and locally made as much as possible. I thought I had bought a lot but wished I had bought more when I got home!
At five o'clock most of the cruise passengers (over 500 people) were loaded into buses for our Amazing Evening-we were off to to an exhibition polo match. It was a rather spectacular sky and weather looked a bit iffy but we did stay dry.
We were given an additional surprise with a Barbadian Carnivale style parade prior to the polo match!
Great fun! The stilt walkers were particularly amazing! Those stilts were high and these gentlemen were really agile! Needless to say we were served drinks and snacks!
We all found the game quite interesting although with a big field and only twelve players not easy to always see the action. Fortunately someone had a good pair of binoculars. We could see why they have to keep changing horses-it's hard, fast work, and a big field.
We had an excellent tour guide on the way back who was really informative! And when we got back to the ship there was a big buffet and then a White Night where guests were encouraged to wear white and there was great music with all the performers participating.
We really had a fun couple of days in Barbados, and it is a place I would enjoy having the opportunity to spend more time!
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