6 Best Sights in Castries, Saint Lucia

Under a brilliant orange roof, this bustling market is at its liveliest on Saturday morning, when farmers bring their produce and spices to town, as they have for more than a century. (It's closed Sunday.) Next door to the produce market is the Craft Market, where you can buy pottery, wood carvings, handwoven straw articles, and innumerable souvenirs, trinkets, and gewgaws. At the Vendors' Arcade, across Peynier Street from the Craft Market, you'll find still more handicrafts and souvenirs.

Directly across Laborie Street from Derek Walcott Square stands Castries's Roman Catholic cathedral, which was built in 1897. Though it appears rather somber on the outside, the interior walls are decorated with colorful murals reworked by Saint Lucian artist Dunstan St. Omer just prior to Pope John Paul II's visit in 1985. This church has an active parish and is open daily for both public viewing and religious services.

The city's green oasis, bordered by Brazil, Laborie, Micoud, and Bourbon streets, was formerly called Columbus Square but was renamed to honor the late Sir Derek Walcott, the hometown poet who won the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature and one of two Nobel laureates from Saint Lucia. (The late Sir W. Arthur Lewis won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Economics.) Some of the 19th-century buildings that have survived fire, wind, and rain can be seen on Brazil Street, the square's southern border. On the Laborie Street side, there's a huge 400-year-old samaan (monkey pod) tree with leafy branches that shade a good portion of the square.

The official residence of the governor-general—and one of the island's few remaining examples of Victorian architecture—is perched high above Castries, halfway up Morne Fortune ("Hill of Good Fortune"), which forms a backdrop for the capital city. Morne Fortune has also seen more than its share of bad luck, including devastating hurricanes and four fires that leveled Castries.

On the south side of the harbor, near the pier and markets, is a duty-free shopping complex with a handful of shops and a café. It's busiest when a cruise ship is in port.

This duty-free shopping complex is on the north side of the harbor, about a 20-minute walk or 2-minute cab ride from the city center. Pointe Seraphine's attractive Spanish-style architecture houses more than 20 upscale duty-free shops, a tourist information kiosk, a bar, a taxi stand, and car-rental agencies. The shopping center is adjacent to a cruise-ship pier and is busiest when ships are in port.