Our third cruise stop was to St. John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda. The nation gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1981 but remains part of the Commonwealth and is a constitutional monarchy whose head of state is Charles III. Augustine and I spent a couple of hours walking around St. John’s, making two notable stops: church and merch(andise).
Exploring St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
We pulled directly into the port at St. John’s, so no tender was needed to reach shore. The port area is extremely touristy, filled with restaurants, bars, boutiques, and souvenir shops.
Our first stop was St. John’s Cathedral, located at the top of the hill overlooking the capital city. It’s a shame we were not in port the day before, so that we could attend a Sunday service there, but enjoyed checking out the historic cathedral (rebuilt for the third time in 1845 after earthquakes 1683 and 1745 destroyed previous iterations).
As beautiful as it was, I was sad to see that the grounds and façade were in a state of disrepair (I even donated some money while there toward the building fund). Like many churches, there is a cemetery surrounding the structure and yet the entire place was overgrown, with several grave markers worn away or crumbling.
Yet it was a reminder that the church is not a building, but the people that occupy it.
Augustine is a respectable artist for his age and enjoys drawing and even composing books (he’s currently working on his own Chronicles of Narnia tale that takes place between The Magicain’s Nephew and The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe). The ship was well-stocked with pens and markers, but he wanted some colored pencils so we stopped at an old-school stationary / office supply store (I used to love those as a kid…sadly, they are a bit a relic of the past, at least in Southern California).
Mission accomplished!
Next, we continued to meander through St. John’s, stopping at the open-air marketplace and pausing to learn about Sir Vere Cornwall Bird, the first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda.
Years ago I flew into VC Bird International (ANU) in Antigua on my way to Montserrat and it was nice to be back in this Caribbean nation.
If you go back for a land based stay, I highly recommend the Copper and Lumber Store Hotel in English Harbor. Your kids are the perfect age for the history. https://www.copperandlumberhotel.com/
We also did a fantastic helicopter flight over Monserrat.
Antigua is a really great island, though enjoying it requires having a car. It’s even pretty easy to find a boat to stay on in English Harbour. Being near the cruise port, the two of you could have picked up some tasty Caribbean style Chinese food for a really good deal… Though I imagine you probably did most of your eating on board.
we went to Antigua 50 years ago for our honeymoon. We went back once before a hurricane damaged the hotel we stayed in..Looks like it needs some facelifting.