TROIS ILETS AND GRANDE ANSE D'ARLET

A couple of days earlier, Al went on the web and reserved a car from Jumbocar, in order to take our guests to the airport. While he was making a selection, he accidentally chose a two door Renaut (instead of our four door) and ended up paying 27.- Euros for the day, exactly half price of getting it from the office.
Anyway, Christian from Jumbocar had told Oguz the last time that Les Trois-Ilets was the St Tropez of Martinique, a major tourist area, and should not be missed. We had all day on Sunday, Christian was to bring the car to Marin, and was to allow us to leave the car at their branch office there the next day. I am really impresses by the service we got from Christian. I guess we became a major client after renting three times in ten days.

At 10:45 am Al and Oguz took the luggage to the dinghy dock at the main port, and took the car from Christian. Al came back for Simone and I, while Oguz waited at the car. A little after 11:00, we were all in the car, heading towards Les Trois-Ilets. It is located at the south coast of the bay of FDF, very picturesque, but at this time of the year, almost deserted. We got there, and searched a nice restaurant with a view. A few people recommended Creole Village, but it was closed on Sundays. Go figure. We found another one, which was not bad, in the nick of time before it started pouring down in buckets.

We had lots of time to kill, and St Tropez did not prove to be that interesting, or the beach very attractive, so we thought of going to FDF. We asked about the ferry, which starts from Anse a l'Ane and Anse Mitan, right across the bay, but no go, they do not work on Sundays.

Back to the car, and drive to FDF. It was a dead city! No traffic on the streets, the promenade of shops was deserted, but some scary looking guys. One of them quite agressively asked for money, and we went back to the car, and got the hell out of there. We checked out a beach at Schoelcher, immediate north of FDF, facing west. Nothing interesting, everything closed for winter (!) Hard to believe.
Al decided to take us to Grand Anse d'Arlet by car this time. We went all the way back to Les Trois-Ilets and took to the road that passes over the mountain to get to the west coast. It was after 4:00 pm, the road narrow and winding up and down. When we got to the bay, the view was spectacular, but watching the sunset at 5:30 pm would mean getting back on the dangerous road in the dark. Oguz agreed with me that we should not spend too much time there, but stop for a drink close to the main road to Lamentin, where the airport is located.

We passed the mountain road in daylight, and stopped at Anse a l'Ane at a beach cafe. Nothing interesting, except a bunch of drunk guys making loud noises imitating music. As soon as the sun set, it started to get chilly (are we spoiled or what?).
By the time we got to the airport it was around 7:00 pm. We spent some time together, but they were busy changing into their winter clothes and getting their boarding passes. There was a big crowd in front of them, so they insisted that we should be on our way. We felt sad to leave them there. I hope they would come back!