We set the alarm for 7.30, but were awake long before then. The St Lucia way of driving, which involves honking your horn every time you approach a corner of any kind, makes it difficult to stay asleep when they do it at 6.15.
We got down to breakfast quite smartly, and were very impressed at the range. There was the full range of cooked traditional breakfast, eggs to order, fruit, yoghurts, cereals, and even local delicacies like saltfish with green figs and local bake. Delicious. Only gripe is that the water they serve for tea is not hot enough to properly steep. But they did have Twinings English breakfast bags on the table, so can't complain too much.
We were in plenty of time to meet the Expedia rep, Cheryl, in the lounge at 9.20 to book excursions. She was lovely, and very knowledgeable. We ended up booking three days out - despite that giving us a fairly busy itinerary, it meant that we got to see all the parts of the island we wanted to see - and asked her a few questions about tipping and whether we'd need East Caribbean dollars. It was possible to change money in Castries, but the banks weren't always obvious.
Back in the room, I did some work I'd forgotten to do on Friday, and we basically relaxed until lunch time.
Lunch in the buffet featured loads of lovely salads and fruit, but also cooked dishes.
On the way back to the room, we asked reception whether we could change some cash there. Thankfully, they could. I persuaded Christian to make it £80 rather than £100, and that saw us through almost perfectly.
After lunch, we decided to wander down to Castries to see what there was to see, despite us not having to change cash any more, or the fact that nothing whatsoever would be open. We walked out of the gate, but got stopped. The security folks wanted to take our details (in case we didn't come back?), which was fine. We plodded down the hill, which wasn't too difficult or dangerous, into Castries, and past the market, and people inviting us into various bars. Absolutely nothing was open, but it was still interesting.
We pushed on to the north, alongside the harbour, saw a crab, and then realised it wasn't very far to walk to the beach from there. So we kept on north until we could see the beach, tantalisingly close, but actually on the far side of the airport, which we had to go a long way east to skirt around. We followed the road to the beach, which was obviously full of locals and didn't actually look that nice. We turned right along the front of a resort, and not seeing any other way back to the road, cut through the grounds of the cheesy Rendez-vous couples resort. It looked a lot more exclusive than Bel Jou. Various staff members nodded and smiled at us on the way through. And then when we got to the gate, we were hassled by their security. How rude!
The walk up the hill from that direction was much shorter than the way down, but a hell of a lot steeper. I got very hot and sweaty and tired and we collapsed back in the room.
It was high time to visit the pool and cool off. So we got our swimmers on, went to the bottom pool and found sunbeds. After a freezing shower, we got in, got out again, and found rum punches. I had my sun, and Christian had his shade. Wins.
The sun was gone behind the main building by about 4.30, so we took ourselves back to the room to shower and change.
Dinner was again preceded by a cocktail, and again at the buffet. Another amazing meal in amazing surroundings.
We watched telly again, which masked the sound of the entertainment for a while. But we still managed to get to sleep while everyone else partied on.
We got down to breakfast quite smartly, and were very impressed at the range. There was the full range of cooked traditional breakfast, eggs to order, fruit, yoghurts, cereals, and even local delicacies like saltfish with green figs and local bake. Delicious. Only gripe is that the water they serve for tea is not hot enough to properly steep. But they did have Twinings English breakfast bags on the table, so can't complain too much.
We were in plenty of time to meet the Expedia rep, Cheryl, in the lounge at 9.20 to book excursions. She was lovely, and very knowledgeable. We ended up booking three days out - despite that giving us a fairly busy itinerary, it meant that we got to see all the parts of the island we wanted to see - and asked her a few questions about tipping and whether we'd need East Caribbean dollars. It was possible to change money in Castries, but the banks weren't always obvious.
Back in the room, I did some work I'd forgotten to do on Friday, and we basically relaxed until lunch time.
Lunch in the buffet featured loads of lovely salads and fruit, but also cooked dishes.
On the way back to the room, we asked reception whether we could change some cash there. Thankfully, they could. I persuaded Christian to make it £80 rather than £100, and that saw us through almost perfectly.
After lunch, we decided to wander down to Castries to see what there was to see, despite us not having to change cash any more, or the fact that nothing whatsoever would be open. We walked out of the gate, but got stopped. The security folks wanted to take our details (in case we didn't come back?), which was fine. We plodded down the hill, which wasn't too difficult or dangerous, into Castries, and past the market, and people inviting us into various bars. Absolutely nothing was open, but it was still interesting.
We pushed on to the north, alongside the harbour, saw a crab, and then realised it wasn't very far to walk to the beach from there. So we kept on north until we could see the beach, tantalisingly close, but actually on the far side of the airport, which we had to go a long way east to skirt around. We followed the road to the beach, which was obviously full of locals and didn't actually look that nice. We turned right along the front of a resort, and not seeing any other way back to the road, cut through the grounds of the cheesy Rendez-vous couples resort. It looked a lot more exclusive than Bel Jou. Various staff members nodded and smiled at us on the way through. And then when we got to the gate, we were hassled by their security. How rude!
The walk up the hill from that direction was much shorter than the way down, but a hell of a lot steeper. I got very hot and sweaty and tired and we collapsed back in the room.
It was high time to visit the pool and cool off. So we got our swimmers on, went to the bottom pool and found sunbeds. After a freezing shower, we got in, got out again, and found rum punches. I had my sun, and Christian had his shade. Wins.
The sun was gone behind the main building by about 4.30, so we took ourselves back to the room to shower and change.
Dinner was again preceded by a cocktail, and again at the buffet. Another amazing meal in amazing surroundings.
We watched telly again, which masked the sound of the entertainment for a while. But we still managed to get to sleep while everyone else partied on.
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