Fort Frederick: An Itty Bitty Fort that is NOT a Grenada Must-See
Written: Feb 13 '07 (Updated Feb 13 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Steel drum band, nice views
Cons: Very small, sort of under construction
The Bottom Line: Don't go out of your way.
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| chelledun's Full Review: Grenada Fort Frederick |
Knowing little about Grenada, mr_chelledun and I jumped on board with the “must-see” sites as defined by the cruise line and various online promotional materials. Grenada’s Fort Frederick is one frequently mentioned tourist destination. Built by the French in the 1700’s to protect their Caribbean empire, this fort remains standing even after the U.S. occupation and bombings in the 1980’s, unlike some of its counterparts. Despite its hype and history, Fort Frederick turned out to be a minor and easily skippable site.
If You Go...
You can grab a taxi to Fort Frederick from downtown. It is also included as a stop in many cruise ship excursions and almost all private island tours. Grenada was the only destination we used a ship’s island tour for (which I do not recommend doing really ever, but that’s another story) so we were able to access the fort easily.
Fort Frederick has a small admission charge of around two dollars. Our entrance was included in the (too high) price of our ship’s tour but this would probably not be the case with a private tour. You will not need very much time at all to tour this fort. We had a half hour and that was a big plenty. If you don’t want to go inside the fort, you can get the same view and enjoy the ambience of a steel drums band in the area outside its walls. The steel drums band, I think, was actually the highlight.
Stuff to See
As it turns out, Fort Frederick is a wee little fort, totally overrun with tourists on the day we visited. I can’t imagine how it is during the busy tourism season. The fort consists mainly of one large structure with a wall around the edges. You can wait in a line to climb on top or wander around in the caverns under the fort. We headed underneath and eventually bumped up against a construction site of sorts and had to backtrack to where we came in. Tourists who have visited the huge Caribbean forts in San Juan or St. Kitts will be decidedly underwhelmed with Fort Frederick.
The only real reason to head to Fort Frederick at all is for the view. You can see much of Grenada from this vantage point. Our very, very wordy guide pointed out sites such as schools, the prisons, the harbor, beaches, and other forts. We visited on a slightly hazy day, though, so the photo opportunity was no where near as pristine as those I’ve had on other islands.
Overall…
Fort Frederick is a nice little fort, I suppose, but not worth devoting too much time and effort to seeing unless you have a fort obsession. Based on the online descriptions I guess I thought it would be…bigger. Go for the views if the day is clear or just skip it altogether and head to the beach.
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Couples
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