Phil Haggerty

St. Barts is definitely French. Not only is that the language, with the Euro as the currency, but most of the locals we saw were European French. We rented a car for the reasonable rate of €45 plus €5 for gas. It was a small, but nice Japanese car with an automatic transmission and air conditioning if we needed it. We obtained a good map of this small island and by the time we returned, had seen most of it. It is hilly, but attractive, with a lot of upscale housing and very little that was not at least middle range in pricing and appearance. We stopped at a small hotel called Le Toiny, which, in a typical Caribbean construction, had an open entrance with a restaurant behind it looking out over a pool to the sea beyond; in this case, down a hill. The art instructor from the ship was there also, and we joined him in the office to one side, There a very attractive young French Girl told us in response to my question of how many rooms were in the hotel that there were no rooms, only 15 suites, each with its individual pool. She handed us a brochure. This is a Relais & Chateaux establishment; which means ultra-ultra luxury, priced to match. The small Villa Suites ran from €775 per day in the off season from late April to October 31; €800 in the “Inter Season”; November to mid December; €1550 in the high season from January to April, and €1700 in the Festive Season, from December 20 to January 4. For the larger 2 or 3 bedroom suites, the same seasonal rates were €1450, €1450; €2600 and €3000. For those rates you also got breakfast in addition to your room, and transportation from the airport. But she was a charming young lady and it was a striking and beautiful place. She also recommended a local beach for swimming, which I took advantage of. St Barts is quite small as I noted, but very nice; a place you might want to visit for a few days – with a large suitcase filled with money. Actually, we had a lunch at a truly local restaurant which provided quite nice traditional provincial French food for a reasonable price.

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