Fort Napoléon aux Saintes

Around 15 minutes pretty steep walk takes you to the fortress known as „Fort Napoléon" in Terre-de-Haut, les Saintes. The view (from around 114m) to the island and the rest of the archipelago is worth the effort. The fort, where Napoleon actually had never been too (even if the name might let you think so), replaced the "Fort Louis" (destroyed 1809 by the English) and its building was finished in 1867. An exotic cactus-garden decorates the top of the thick and wide stone walls of the fort. The inside of the building operates as a museum. There one may discover different items: from old pictures and exotic shells to typical items "santoises" like boats and the hat „salako"....

The local guide has a story to almost every one of them. So we learnt that the male iguana is much more beautiful than the female-because of the longer ale and the stripes on it. Also: some dead corals were used as building materials from the locals for hundred of years now. Personally I really enjoyed the map of Guadeloupe and les Saintes made with the sand of the different beaches around the islands...