A piece of France away from France or a French baguette in the Caribbean (part 2)

The Guadeloupean architecture will be another clue that you are not in Europe.

No Haussmann, Provence or mediaeval buildings around!

The traditional houses are painted or decorated in all colours of the rainbow and so quaint.

Some villages also have cute fishermen's cemeteries with tombs which look like houses, similar to those you can see in Louisiana. Some of them are covered with beautiful chessboard tiles, while other more humble ones are simply decorated with gorgeous queen conches!

While walking around the local villages, you will most certainly come across a lot of amazing street art.

If you are lucky, you may also bump into a street concert of gwo-ka, a Guadeloupean folk music played with local drums.

However, the best cultural experience in Guadeloupe would be to join the locals for one of the best carnivals in the world.

It takes place every year in February or March and lasts more than a month.

Each town has their own group or groups of performers competing for the best costumes, the best music or the best choreography.

Each parade is an euphoria of music, dances, songs, drums, conches, whips and costumes…

Tons of  colours, rhythm, joy...

The whip symbolises the power taken by the former slaves from their masters.

On Ash Wednesday, the day that ends the carnival, the mascot king nicknamed Vaval is burned, which signals the end of the festivities. Each year the king of the carnival is a satirical representation of a current theme in Guadeloupean society - in 2024 it was Artificial Intelligence!

In the highly unlikely scenario you are still not convinced that Guadeloupe is everything but France, just have a chat with the Guadeloupean people! You will find them mostly relaxed, easy-going and friendly.

We discovered that there were huge issues of public transport on one of the islands which forced locals without a car to either hitchhike or walk for hours on hilly roads under the scorching sun. We stopped every time when we saw people hitchhiking and gave them a lift. These were definitely the funniest and most genuine exchanges we had with the locals who at this moment did not consider us as tourists rushing to some of the crowded beaches but as travellers contributing to their community the best we could. One of these guys warned us against going to Malendure beach, describing it as “the beach owned by the tourists”…

Located between Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat to the north and Dominica to the south, Guadeloupe is an archipelago of more than 12 islands (excluding all the tiny islets and rocks) with only six of them - Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the two islands of Les Saintes - being inhabited. Yet, despite the distance between the islands and the inconvenience and uncertainty of ferry crossings through the rough sea, they all appeared to us as part of one single village where everyone knows everyone and people help each other the best they can. In a way, if Asterix and Obelix were to travel to Guadeloupe one day, they would discover a village populated by irreducible and united Guadeloupean people, similar to the village populated by the irreducible and united Gauls in the mother country!

And yet, each island of Guadeloupe is different and has something special to awe you with!