Go to town
Jamie Eliot on Port of Spain, the nation’s capital The Port of Spain skyline
Mark Lyndersay
At City Gate, buses and maxi taxis from all over the country pour in. Situated on South Quay and Broadway, it’s about as far downtown as you can get without falling into the harbour. Actually, Wrightson Road, a major channel for pumping traffic into and out of Port of Spain, separates the city from the Gulf of Paria. Falling into Wrightson Road would be far more dangerous than falling into the water.
The city seeps inland from this port on Trinidad’s north-west coast. Port of Spain is the nation’s second capital, taking over from St Joseph in the mid 18th century. The pedestrian is grateful; St Joseph is uncomfortably hilly for a crosstown walk.
Downtown Port of Spain is noisy and chaotic. Anything that can be found in a shop can also be bought on the street: jewellery, clothes, food, music, craft, household appliances. One block up from the bus station, the Brian Lara Promenade spans the width of the island’s main commercial and financial district. There’s a Roman Catholic cathedral at one end and the towers of the Central Bank at the other, with every kind of trading activity in between. Running down the centre of Independence Square, and named for Trinidad’s most famous cricketer, the Promenade can be as busy by night as it is by day, especially in the Carnival season. But keep walking north; this is an easily navigable city.
The Eric Williams Financial Complex — Trinidad’s “twin towers”
Mark Lyndersay
Nicholas Tower, Port of Spain’s newest skyscraper
Mark Lyndersay
The Laventille Hills arrest the eastward spread of the city. This is where the steel pan was born. The hills probably don’t make it into most visitors’ tours, but like any city’s true working-class neighbourhoods, they feel like the pulse of the country.
Frederick Street takes you from the Promenade all the way up to the Queen’s Park Savannah at the northern end of the city. (So do most of the streets running parallel to it, but Frederick Street is the one you want to stay on for everything from designer shops to incense-selling Rastafarians.) The city’s compact grid design lets you slip into adjacent streets via any of the numerous shopping arcades.
If downtown has a middle, it would be Woodford Square. Even if it were tucked into a corner, Woodford Square would seem like the centre of town. It is in many ways the centre of the country. Like Hyde Park’s Speakers’ Corner, . . .
Jamie Eliot on Port of Spain, the nation’s capital The Port of Spain skyline
Mark Lyndersay
At City Gate, buses and maxi taxis from all over the country pour in. Situated on South Quay and Broadway, it’s about as far downtown as you can get without falling into the harbour. Actually, Wrightson Road, a major channel for pumping traffic into and out of Port of Spain, separates the city from the Gulf of Paria. Falling into Wrightson Road would be far more dangerous than falling into the water.
The city seeps inland from this port on Trinidad’s north-west coast. Port of Spain is the nation’s second capital, taking over from St Joseph in the mid 18th century. The pedestrian is grateful; St Joseph is uncomfortably hilly for a crosstown walk.
Downtown Port of Spain is noisy and chaotic. Anything that can be found in a shop can also be bought on the street: jewellery, clothes, food, music, craft, household appliances. One block up from the bus station, the Brian Lara Promenade spans the width of the island’s main commercial and financial district. There’s a Roman Catholic cathedral at one end and the towers of the Central Bank at the other, with every kind of trading activity in between. Running down the centre of Independence Square, and named for Trinidad’s most famous cricketer, the Promenade can be as busy by night as it is by day, especially in the Carnival season. But keep walking north; this is an easily navigable city.
The Eric Williams Financial Complex — Trinidad’s “twin towers”
Mark Lyndersay
Nicholas Tower, Port of Spain’s newest skyscraper
Mark Lyndersay
The Laventille Hills arrest the eastward spread of the city. This is where the steel pan was born. The hills probably don’t make it into most visitors’ tours, but like any city’s true working-class neighbourhoods, they feel like the pulse of the country.
Frederick Street takes you from the Promenade all the way up to the Queen’s Park Savannah at the northern end of the city. (So do most of the streets running parallel to it, but Frederick Street is the one you want to stay on for everything from designer shops to incense-selling Rastafarians.) The city’s compact grid design lets you slip into adjacent streets via any of the numerous shopping arcades.
If downtown has a middle, it would be Woodford Square. Even if it were tucked into a corner, Woodford Square would seem like the centre of town. It is in many ways the centre of the country. Like Hyde Park’s Speakers’ Corner, . . .
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