St. John’s, the Lively Capital of Antigua
Northeast of the island, in a protected harbor, is St. John’s, the capital of Antigua, with a population of 40,000 people. On the central streets, are the typical wooden buildings of the Caribbean. Most of them dating from the end of the XIX century, and of the XX, because in 1843 a seaquake destroyed a huge part of the city.

The old warehouses next to the Deep Water Harbor were transformed into commercial centers. Debarkation of passengers from the cruisers is made at another dock, Heritage Quay, a mall with a casino, Las Vegas style, and plenty of duty free shops. Nearby is, Redcliffe Quay, where the slaves use to arrive to be sold in the market, and now offering visitors, a zone of small-restored buildings hosting plenty of restaurants, boutiques and souvenir shops. Both places are ideal to relax in one of their shops, with air conditioning, while drinking a refreshing cocktail.

South of the city, at the end of Market Street, is the public market, where people go to buy fruit, vegetables, fishes, species and other products of the island, and that usually is very lively on Fridays and Saturdays. No tour around St. John’s will be complete without visiting the Museum of Antigua & Barbuda (open from Monday to Friday, Saturday mornings; free entrance, though tips are usual), located on Long Street, at the other end of Market Street. Is a colonial building, built in 1844, that in the old times hosted the city courthouse; now it is a museum offering a journey through the history of both islands, besides exhibiting a collection of oddities, that go from archaeological findings of the Siboney and Arawak Indians, to traditional drums that visitors can play.

Two blocks east of Church Street is the St. John’s Cathedral, whose towers can be seen from any corner of the ancient part of the city. In fact, this is the last of the three churches built here. A second one, built with stone in 1789, replaced the original one, built with wood in 1682. But an earthquake destroyed it in 1843. The present Anglican Church dates from 1848, and has proven to be a very sound construction to resist the three last hurricanes: Hugo in 1989, Luis and Marilyn in 1995 that devastated the rest of the island. The statues of St. John, the Baptist and Saint John Divine that can be seen at the south door were designated to be part of a church in Guadeloupe, but a British warship took them away from the French.

The entrance to the port is flanked by two forts dating from the XVIII century, Fort Barrington at the south, and Fort James, where there are still, cannons from the colonial era, and from where, spectacular views can be contemplated. At the harbor is the beach of St. John, where noisy parties take place on weekends. On the other side, the deteriorated cottages at the outskirts of the city, confirm that tourism benefits haven’t reached all the people.

The North White Beaches
If you drive through the highways, at once your attention will be drawn to:
The minibuses running at great speed, with drivers usually honking their horns, instead of using the brakes, and the lack of signals. Be sure car rental agencies, provide you with a map of the highways, and if you still get lost, you can always find some help from the kind islanders. Antigua has only 100 km. of highways, many of them full of potholes and badly signaled.

North of St. John, the coast has all the necessary conditions for tourism, the island’s prime industry. Runaway Bay and Dickenson Bay are the names of two idyllic beaches, with lots of hotels. Prices are in direct relation with the distance separating them from the beach. So, the most luxurious are right in front of the sea, while the second rank ones are in the hills behind the coast.

The Atlantic Coast
Along the north and east coast, there are reefs and wide beaches, most of them almost deserted. But if you want to practice windsurfing in these waters, you must take some precautions, because the Atlantic, is a swollen sea and can be dangerous. Highways going east of St. John take you to Parham, the place where, in 1632, arrived the first British pioneers from St. Kitts. In this village you’ll find the church of St. Peter, an octagonal plant building from 1840, surrounded by mangrove swamps, something hard to see now, after the tourist boom of the last years in Antigua. 6 km away, going southeast, after leaving behind the small town of Pares, you’ll find the rests of Betty’s Hope (open from Tuesday to Saturday; free entrance); inaugurated in 1674, the first wide range sugar plantation of Antigua. It is difficult to believe now, that in this deserted region, once were huge extensions of sugar cane plantations. The first owner of the plantation was Christopher Codrington, a British officer that came to Antigua as governor of the Leeward Islands. He, and several generations of descendants, lived in the mansion of the plantation, named after his daughter Betty. In 1921, the Codringtons migrated to the US. Currently, Betty’s Hope is a small outdoor museum, where the two old windmills are exhibited, and one of them still works.

8 km to the east, you’ll reach the eastern point of the island, where is Devil’s Bridge, a natural rock bridge that waves have been carving, along some hundred years, Very close to this place, is the Long Bay beach, much visited by the local people on weekends.

Southeast of the island, you’ll find Half Moon Bay, where the sand forms a half moon of almost one kilometer long. Some say is the best beach in Antigua. Before reaching the beach, turn to the left, and you’ll arrive to Harmony Hall (open daily), a magnificent art gallery built on the foundations of an old plantation mansion. Every year in November, stages the Antiguan Artists’ Exhibition, were the best artists of the island present their works. The gallery has a bar, hidden inside the old sugar mill tower.