My birthday present for this year was to hire a car and tour around Grenada. We met Ray at nine o’clock at the “De big Fish” restaurant and he drives us to the police station to obtain our Grenadian driver license. We did not have to sit a test; we only had to pay money for the “driver license ticket”. Another way of making money from tourists, never mind we put that behind us and make our way to explore Grenada. As we are leaving the station we can see the sky overcast and then it starts pouring down with rain. The road was hard to see, but we are determined to get to our first stop and so we kept going to the Concord Falls. Once we were a bit higher in the mountain the heavy rain finally stopped and it only drizzled a little bit. In actual fact the rain enhanced the lush green scenery and we stopped several times on our way up the mountains to admire the view. The Concord Falls is a 3 level waterfall, however because of the rain we just went to visit the lowest cascade as it was easy accessible from the road. After the Concorde Falls, we also visited the Annendale Fall, where a local guy impressed us with an acrobatic jump from the top. Afterwards we made our way to Gouyave to visit the Nutmeg Station, which became another highlight in the Caribbean. I did not know what an interesting spice the Nutmeg is. Not only was the smell overwhelming in the station, it was also interesting to discover how the Nutmeg is harvest and processed and what it is used for. The Nutmeg grows on beautiful evergreen trees. Nutmeg is the actual seed of the tree and is roughly egg-shaped and about 20 to 30 mm long and 15 to 18 wide, and weighing between 5 and 10 dried. The outside yellow capsule is used to make jam and syrup, while the “lacy” reddish covering around the actual seed is called mace and is used as a spice for soups. The inner seed is in a shell and will be dried; once it is dried the shell is removed and used for a flavor in the BBQ fire. A shelled nutmeg lasts up to three years and with its shell it stays fresh for up to 10 years. The first harvest of nutmeg trees takes place 7–9 years after planting, and the trees reach full production after 20 years. Nutmeg is usually used in powdered form. This is the only tropical fruit that is the source of two different spices ….overall an amazing and very interesting fruit. After the nutmeg station we make our way to the north of Grenada. The island is very green and people are very friendly, wherever we go people wave to us and when we asked for directions we get very precise and correct directions. Excellent experience! Our next stop is the River Antoine Rum Distillery. This is the oldest working rum distillery in the Caribbean, where traditional methods are still used for rum making and it is the only distillery driven by a water mill. It was impressive, but the smell here was stomach turning, with all the old fermented sugar cane piled up around the place. It was very interesting to have a look at the old machinery and it gave us a little impression how they used to make their rum and still do up until today….very old fashion! From here we stopped at Lake Antoine, which is a shallow volcanic crater lake with great spots for bird watching. This place reminded me very much of the Green and Blue Lake in Rotorua back in New Zealand. The Belmont Estate is next on our list; this was supposed to be one of our highlights on this trip and turned out to be a total disaster and disappointment. The Estate is set in 400 acres of lush rolling hills and a working cocoa plantation with a chocolate factory attached. When we arrived it already gave us a deserted impression, however you should never judged anything from the outside. Unfortunately the first impression was right this time and nothing much was happening there. The restaurant looked still in a very good shape so we had my birthday lunch there….ups wrong decision ….the food from the buffet was not good and I would not recommend or rave on about this place. Our last stop for the day was Grenville, which is the second largest town in Grenada. When we arrived late back home we were exhausted from driving in the car and heat all day, but happy with our experiences and I will have fond memories of my 45th birthday for a long time.
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