Being a tourist in Jamaica

Laura Tanna
Letter From Laura

Friends from Canada fled the deadly cold to spend the second week of January with us, which gave me the chance to become a tourist in Jamaica, rather than the foreign places I often described.

Our first stop was the National Gallery of Jamaica, 12 Ocean Boulevard, where parking is easy just behind the building off Orange Street. Having toured the Perez Museum of Miami which opened there in December 2013, in a stunning building designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, on Biscayne Bay, I was struck once again at what a magnificent job Dr David Boxer, former chief curator of the National Gallery, achieved. Our permanent exhibition is brilliantly displayed, with a superb selection of wall colours to highlight the paintings and sculptures carefully selected over the years. And the temporary exhibition, Explorations II: Religion and Spirituality, which lasts until April 27, 2014, is equally impressive. We even met the new chief curator, Charles Campbell, who comes with great credentials. Now, if only Jamaica could get Herzog & de Meuron to design us a new building we would be having more international tourists recognising what a treasure the National Gallery collection truly is!

Would you believe, Ueli Bangerter, nephew of Swiss Stores entrepreneur Peter Bangerter, has been in Jamaica for more than a decade and had never visited the gallery? So he happily joined our visitors for the tour, then introduced us to F&B DownTown, 107 Harbour Street. Tel: 922-1109.

His parents were in the hotel industry in Switzerland where Ueli grew up, and realising that the economic downturn of 2008 meant jewellery sales wouldn't be as strong as in the past when Swiss Stores opened their doors in 1958 as the first air-conditioned store in Jamaica, Ueli designed an elegant restaurant/bar in their downtown location for breakfast starting at 8 a.m, lunch from 11 until 4:30 p.m., and closing at 5 p.m. The mixed garden salad with ham and cheese, plus a glass of white wine, is consistently excellent. My husband loves the roti wraps, though the menu includes pastas, burgers and sandwiches. It's a great place for anyone visiting the Holy Trinity Cathedral or the Institute of Jamaica's downtown museums and exhibitions. Parking is available just behind F&B on Water Lane so one just makes a short walk around to the Harbour Street entrance.

Excellent Thai Chicken

Dinner was perennial favourite Jade Gardens at Sovereign Centre, where the helpful waiter, Peter, mentioned off-the-menu Thai Chicken, which was excellent.

The following day, golf at Caymanas kept my guests busy, fascinated by the caddies' knowledge and local chat, while I prepared dinner at home to meet friends that night. On Friday, we drove through the beautiful countryside, including Fern Gully, to Jamaica Inn, where we rented two-bedroom Clearwater Villa, with a private pool and steps directly into the sea for scuba-diving and swimming. I preferred lazing in the hammock under a tree by the main beach, listening to the eternal heartbeat of waves on sand while waiting to play croquet. A vacationing former world leader got there first but eventually the croquet pitch was ours.

Noel Coward's cliff-side retreat with spectacular views of the St Mary coastline, once the lookout spot of Henry Morgan and his pirates, is just a 40-minute drive east from Ocho Rios, past Oracabessa and into the hills. My friend insisted that when she photographed Angela Connors' lifelike statue of Sir Noel, seated and smoking a cigarette, twice he waved his cigarette at her. She was absolutely convinced of this. So remarkable is the statue and the stupendous site where he is buried watching, as in his poem, "the peace of the changing sea".

Back in Kingston, we ate paninis at 24/7 in The Pegasus lobby and then to Devon House for ice cream. Saturday night gave our guests a chance to really see families enjoying this wonderful gathering place which all Jamaicans love. In the end, we drove over to Welcome Plaza and got our Devon House I Scream without having to stand in a long queue!

On Sunday morning, we drove to Strawberry Hill where everything was in tip-top order. An American celebrity helicoptered in to partake of the perfect Jamaican buffet overlooking Kingston Harbour on one side and the Blue Mountains on the other.

Natural beauty

I wanted my friends to see more of Jamaica's natural beauty, so after lunch, we drove on to Holywell Recreation Area where the entry fee is just J$100 per person and facilities have been improved to provide a number of small thatched pavilions scattered throughout the hills, so that families can enjoy picnics with views of the harbour or mountains. Bamboo facades decorate toilets and hiking trails are provided. Though it didn't seem crowded at all, I was thrilled to count 13 cars and a small bus with people taking advantage of this lovely park.

Stopping at Eits Café on the way back to Kingston, we found a home-grown Jamaican celebrity dining there. My friends are now thoroughly convinced that Jamaica truly is a special place with all kinds of activities to relish.

For their souvenirs, on Monday, it was off to Cannon Ball Café to purchase Twyman's Blue Mountain coffee, lunch from a Patty Shop, and then to The Craft Cottage, Village Plaza, 24 Constant Spring Road, established 40 years ago by remarkable Sally Asher, who is always treated fairly with crafts people whose work she promoted for decades until her daughter Tina Matalon now carries on the tradition. Filled with so many books, CDs, placemats, carvings, T-shirts, soaps, spices - everything under the Jamaican sun - my friends had a hard time choosing what to carry home to remind them of the wonderful place Jamaica can be.

Aware of the problems of unemployment, crime, and poverty, they nonetheless gained a real appreciation for the warmth of Jamaicans and the country's potential for development. In fact, they plan to return, bringing their whole family to see Jamaica for themselves.