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Pigeon Island is more a historical monument than a nature reserve, with ruins dating from the mid-1700s, including a fortress, barracks and some rusting cannons. The grounds are well endowed with lofty trees, including a few big banyans, and you'll get fine views of the coast and nearby Martinique.
The island has a spicy history dating back to the 1550s when St Lucia's first French settler, Jambe de Bois ('Wooden Leg'), used it as a base for raiding passing Spanish ships. Two centuries later British admiral George Rodney fortified the island, using it to monitor the French fleet on Martinique. With the end of hostilities between the two European rivals, the fort slipped into disuse in the 19th century, although the USA established a small signal station there during WWII.
Pigeon Island
(On the far northwestern coast, via Gros Islet Rd.)
South of Soufriére at Malgretout is a quiet, undeveloped beach and mineral waterfall. Not only does this unfrequented waterfall have a beautiful Eden-like setting, but visitors are allowed to shower in its warm volcanic waters - which you cannot do at the more touristy waterfall at Diamond Botanical Gardens.
south of Soufriére
Castries' Catholic cathedral, built in 1897, is a grand stone structure with a splendidly painted interior of trompe l'oeil columns and colourfully detailed biblical scenes. The church richly incorporates both Caribbean and African influences, including images of a black Jesus and Mary.
btwn Laborie & Peynier Sts
Castries
Marigot Bay is a lovely sheltered bay that's backed by green hillsides and sports a little palm-fringed beach. The inner harbour is so long and deep that an entire British fleet is said to have once escaped French warships by ducking inside and covering their masts with coconut fronds.
The bay was the setting for the 1967 musical Doctor Dolittle, starring Rex Harrison. These days, Marigot Bay is a popular anchorage spot for yachters and the site of a marina with facilities including a customs office, a small market, water, ice and fuel.
Castries, the island's commercial centre and capital, is a busy port city set on a large natural harbour. The liveliest part of the city is just southeast of the port, at Jeremie and Peynier Sts, where the Castries Market houses scores of produce and handicraft stalls.
Founded by the French in the 18th century, the city was ravaged by fire three times between 1785 and 1812, and again in 1948. Consequently most of the city's historic buildings have been lost. One area that survived the last fire was Derek Walcott Square, a quiet central square.
Surrounding the square are a handful of 19th-century wooden buildings with gingerbread-trim balconies, an attractive Victorian-style library and the imposing Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Opposite the cathedral, on the eastern side of the square, is a lofty saman tree that's estimated to be 400 years old.
