Live St. Barth - St.
Barts - St. Barthelemy
St. Barth is the quintessential
romantic Caribbean destination. Beautiful, elegant, small and intimate,
it doesn’t get any better than this. Whether you stay in one of the island's
many villas or in one of the fantastic hotels, whether you prefer beach
or shopping, whether you dine out or dine in, your experience in St. Barth
will be unforgettable. Here is what you WON’T get here: high rise hotels,
casinos, masses of tourists, unfriendly natives, and crime.
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This is a low key paradise;
nightlife consists of dining at one of the dozens of eclectic, romantic
restaurants, then stopping by a waterfront bar to hear a little live music.
Days are spent on one of several gorgeous beaches; the rare cloudy day
brings everyone into town for shopping.
Saint Barthélemy (French:
Saint-Barthélemy, Swedish: Sankt Barthelemy), officially the Collectivity
of Saint Barthelemy (French: Collectivité de Saint-Barthélemy),
is an overseas collectivity of France. Often abbreviated to Saint-Barth
in French, or St. Barts in English, the collectivity is one of the four
territories among the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean that
comprise the French West Indies, along with Guadeloupe, Martinique and
Saint Martin. |
St. Barts has an area of
21 km² and a population of 8,398 (census 2006). Its capital is Gustavia,
which is also its main harbor. St Barts lies southeast of Sint Maarten/Saint
Martin and north of St Kitts. It is the only Caribbean island to have historically
been a Swedish colony for any significant length of time (Guadeloupe only
having been one briefly, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars). Symbolism
from the Swedish national arms, the three crowns, still appears in the
island's coat of arms. The language, cuisine and culture are distinctly
French.
St. Barth is part of France
and the E.U. Most of the 8000 residents are of French origin, with fair
skin and brown hair. Ironically not too many locals have a tan! Many of
the residents return “home” to Paris or other parts of France during the
summer, which is low season here. High season runs from just before Christmas
through mid-April. Late spring and early summer, as well as Thanksgiving
week, are excellent times to visit if you are looking for a great deal.
Hotels and villas are discounted, sometimes as much as 50% off of the winter
rates. Christmas and New Years are SUPER HIGH season, with lodging rates
soaring off the charts. But the island is never really crowded; you may
find a few more cars vying for the best parking spots in town, a few more
people on St. Jean Beach, and a little more difficulty getting a dinner
reservation, but compared to other resort towns in high season it’s not
a big deal.
St. Barth is only 8 square
miles, so traveling around the island is easy and relatively quick. The
farthest you’ll have to travel to get to the opposite end of the island
is about 25 minutes, and that’s only because there are a lot of hills and
curves. There are no stoplights, but there is one roundabout that you won’t
soon forget. (Hint: the loud noise you hear directly above you is a plane
approaching the landing strip.) The choice of where to stay is mainly determined
by whether you are a villa person or a hotel person. Both have their advantages…
first timers might want to go with a hotel, though, to get oriented to
the island with a little assistance from the front desk. Villas are the
obvious choice for families or groups, or couples who want just a little
more privacy
Closer to Puerto Rico or
the Virgin Islands than to Guadeloupe (145 miles to the south), Saint Barthélemy
and its neighboring island of Saint Martin are known as the “Northern Islands.”
Since 2007, they have enjoyed a different political status from the other
islands dependent administratively on Guadeloupe. Saint Barthélemy,
like its closest neighbor, voted via referendum to evolve from a municipality
in Guadeloupe into an Overseas Collectivity (COM) governed by a territorial
council. With this move, the island gained a certain amount of autonomy,
the Hotel de Ville (or town hall) became the Hotel de la Collectivité,
and Saint Barth now has a senator representing the island in Paris.
This change in status reinforces
the strong sense of community among the Saint-Barths (the name given to
the descendents of the original settlers who came to the island as early
as 1659 from Normandy or Brittany or other regions in France), while the
island now has a population of over 8500, including recent émigrés
primarily from France and Europe. The population remains 90% Caucasian,
having been discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus, who found an island
inhabited by just a few Carib Indians and pirates. Courageous and self-reliant,
the early settlers in Saint Barthélemy eked out an existence with
the meager agriculture possible on such a dry, rocky island (vegetables,
cotton, pineapples, salt, bananas), as well as fishing and privateering.
Later, the necessity of their situation taught them to become businessmen
as well.
Hirschfield Fine Arts Photography
Original color and hand
colored photographs of St. Barths. A collection of traditional (non-digital)
photography, featuring color and hand-colored images. All printing and
hand coloring is done by the artist
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