Fort de France is a fun place to be although its anchorage is often rolly and bumpy, especially if the winds are from the south east and above 15 knots. Nevertheless, we were here for the Carnival and between celebrations and parades, we escaped the boat and visited areas where we had not been during our previous visits...This time, we visited the Bibliothec Schoelcher - a little gem in the city. The building, erected in the late 1800 in the Jardins des Tuileries in Paris, was dismantled and transported here, in the “colonie” after the universal exposition of 1889. Since then, it has become a touristic sight in addition to have very imposing collections of books for a Caribbean library! Victor Schoelcher is an important personality here in the French Antilles because he stood for the rights of blacks and slaves!

We walked to Fort-De-France first popular neighbourhood, Terres Sainvilles. Indeed, Fort de France was at first a military town, built around Fort Louis. There were only mangroves in that bay, surrounding the fort...but peu a peu, the area was filled and behind the administrative and military quartes, Terres Sainvilles became the first popular quarter of Martinique. Today, there are only few remaining buildings of that time..wooden houses were not painted so that the age of wood was visible and a sign of solidity! Other neighbourhood have attached themselves to Terres sainvilles, such a Sainte-Therese, whose houses literally climb the surrounding hills...These areas are not the wealthiest of Fort de France and are today mostly populated by Haitians and people from Dominican Republic...nights visits were not recommenced by the tourist office!