“Bajan” is the colloquial term for Barbadians. Many tourists travel to this tropical island for the sight seeing, water activities, gardening and other fun filled activities. That is why the local restaurants offer a variety of food to serve to their hungry foreign guests after all of those activities. So what is on the Menu?

Pork
One of the sources of family income in the island is breeding pigs; their pigs are very well taken care of which is why the meat coming from these pigs are very succulent and delicious. Meat lovers will have their stomachs full in this tropical country. They can choose from stewed down pork chops, roasted pork with diamonds of crackling, baked ham and other pork cuisine.

Vegetable
For vegetarian tourists, there are many meat free dishes they can enjoy. Lime juice is often used for seasoning vegetables in this country. Okras are served sprinkled with fresh lime juice; Asparagus are also splashed with lime juice and sautéed in butter. Pumpkin fritters are ideal for those who have a taste for something sweet and spicy. The continental island also has a variety of unusual vegetables. Another popular veggie dish also is Christophene. It is a sugarless member of the melon family which is often served with cheese sauce. Plantain maybe unappealing when it is raw but once prepared the Bajan way it is a delicious treat. Plantain is a member of the banana family and it is usually wrapped in bacon and baked, a must try for all tourists.

Chicken
Chicken is often stuffed with Bajan seasoning. It is a blend of spices and herbs which includes: black pepper, paprika, salt, thyme, marjoram, spring onions, onions, garlic, parsley, basil, scotch bonnet, and clove. Baked Chicken with eclipse crackers is one of must taste chicken cuisine of the island.

Desserts
A meal is not complete if you don not end it with a dessert. For those who a sweet tooth you can choose from Tamarind balls, peanut brittle and guava cheese. There are also pastries like baked custard, Chocolate icebox pudding, lemon meringue pie and the country’s most common dessert is the traditional Coconut bread.

There are many delicious dishes in this Caribbean Island and everyone will surely have their own favorite. So if you are visiting the country make sure to drop by any local restaurants and Barbados Travel Hotels and enjoy Bajan cuisine.

Cricket in Barbados has become that important that it is often regarded as being one of the international cricket capitals and even largely contributes to the West Indies team with famous Barbadian players such as Wes Hall, Sir Garfield Sobers, the late Keith Boyce, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes and David Allen. Some of the more famous current players are Corey Collymore and Ian Bradshaw.

You can visit the Kensington Oval to see a good game of Barbados cricket at almost any time. It’s only a short drive away from Crossbow Villa too! There are all sorts of different Barbados Cricket matches taking place including the international Test Match, One-Day games, first division matches or beach friendly games as well as fun cricket games on the village green or local open pasture field. Whatever you choose to do and wherever you go on a day out from Crossbow Villa, you’ll find Barbados Cricket matches a joyous occasion!

A Barbados vacation experience is proven to be exceptional. Starting from luxury or cheap flights to Barbados, visitors of this stunning coral island can explore natural wonders like The Baobab Tree, Harrison’s Cave, the Famous Jewish Synagogue and Citrus Paradise. The island has numerous sites of architectural, natural and historical interest.

Scenic Barbados is very accessible from Europe and North America. Matter of fact, there are daily international cheap flights to Barbados. Another option is to take a Caribbean cruise aboard many cruise ships that are either based or just pass through Barbados. For flights, you can travel from Caracas (2 hours and 30 minutes travel time), Brussels (9 hours), London (8 hours), Frankfurt (9 hours), Montreal (5 hours), Miami (3 hours and 40 minutes), Toronto (5 hours), New York (4 hours and 20 minutes) and the shortest travel time is from San Juan (1 hour and 30 minutes).

Tourists who want a piece of Barbados have a lot of travel options. For those who really want to get good but cheap flights to Barbados can go with Jet Blue Airways who has recently incorporated the Island as their newest destination in the Caribbean. Travelers from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York can use Jet Blue Airways going to Barbados for a starting rate of only $99.

Jet Blue Airways has truly made traveling to the Caribbean more inexpensive. This airway usually operates for about 76 daily flights to a variety of destinations throughout the Caribbean and Latin America including the remarkable and exciting Barbados Island. They offer travelers the convenience and comfort through their large aircrafts and Airbus A320.

Cricket is another popular sport that you can take part in while visiting Barbados. The national sport of Barbados and the West Indies is cricket. Each year thousands of people arrive in Barbados to watch the world cricket tournaments at the famous Kingston Oval.

There are plenty of opportunities for water sports while visiting Barbados. The beautiful, crystal clear water and beaches will keep you outdoors in the sun for hours, going inside only in the evening as you enjoy some of the find dining experiences unique to Barbados. Some of the water sports available include:

(1) snorkeling among the rocks and reef close to shore, (2) kayaking near the shoreline, (3) water skiing through the calming waters, (4) wind surfing as the wind comes up, (5) sailing in one of the many scenic coves, and (6) boogie boarding for the more adventurous.

If you love to play in the water, you won’t have time to partake of all the water sports available in Barbados unless you plan to take an extended holiday.

The best time of the year to visit Barbados is during February to May when the weather is cooler and drier than at any other time of the year. One thing that you will have to remember is that this time is considered tourist time and will be very busy with tourists from all over the world. This also means that the prices of everything will be higher than at any other time of the year.

There are a number of festivals and events happening in Barbados year- round. The Crop-Over Festival began in colonial times. It lasts for several weeks, starting in July, and celebrates the sugar cane harvest. During February, if you are there, be sure to enjoy the Holetown Festival. This commemorates the arrival of the first English settlers in 1627.

Other festivals and events include the Oistins Fish Festival during Easter and the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts that takes place in November.

When it comes down to the bottom line, it really doesn’t matter when you go to Barbados. It is always beautiful, exciting with lost of activity.

Make the most of the beautiful surroundings by spending your days lazing on the beach and swimming in the blissfully warm water – or check out the south coast if you’re into surfing, where the slightly rougher seas account for the fact that Spring Break Barbados is the surfing capital of the Caribbean. Surfing is a big hit here, along with a variety of other water-sports that will make sure your days are filled with action and fun!

If you prefer to stay dry, there’s lots of sightseeing to be done in Barbados, which is a thriving tourist hotspot with no shortage of things to see and do. Even just wandering through the streets and shops can be a fun experience, with plenty of street vendors to haggle with, and let’s not forget the duty free shopping! Pick up some bargains and treat yourself.

There are also loads of entertainment choices in Barbados during Spring Break. Local bars are great for hanging out with friends and shooting some pool or taking in a sports game on plasma screens. Nightclubs are plentiful and full of tourists and locals alike – packed with young people who want to let their hair down and have some fun! You can dance the night away at many Barbados clubs, as they stay open almost till dawn – perfect for the Spring Break crowd who just don’t want to stop. There are also casinos for the thrill-seekers, which stay open almost 24 hours a day, and not to mention the many, many smaller bars and entertainment venues where you can take in a show, see a live band, or just mingle with the friendly natives.

Spring Break in Barbados will be full of fun and sun – thousands of American and Canadian college students can’t be wrong!

Hiking on a brown sugar coloured crunchy sandy east coast beach, one can explore the sandy shoreline, and may discover “sea coconuts”, “lucky seeds”, a washed up Portuguese Man of War, just to mention a few likely findings. Venturing inland, there are different walking surfaces, namely grassy uphill footpaths, and rugged sandy clay trails. One continues to climb to a height of 167m (547 feet), to reach the very breezy lookout point, that offers a wide sweeping panoramic view of fifteen per cent of the island.

Descending from this lookout point along more rugged footpaths, which give way to paved roads one enters a typical Barbadian village. A village of timber chattel houses, concrete houses, at least five small churches, in this small community, and of course not forgetting the rum shops, surprisingly only two serve this village. Visit a village resident who is an accomplished potter and is a descendant of potters going back 200 years.

These hills of the Scotland District, are a fusion of sand stone, clays, and alluvial muds. This part of the island actually looks like another country, compared to the other eighty five per cent of the land mass. In fact geologists refer to this Scotland District as Ancestral Barbados, and it is really the material of another country, that is three hundred miles south of Barbados. Out of this, apparently inconsequential material, Barbados was formed, rising like a sphinx out of the Atlantic Ocean, just two million years ago.

Learn about Manjak, its various uses as you visit what is left of this mine. Manjak is a type of hydrocarbon that was utilized as a fuel in the furnaces of the local trains, it was also exported to be used as a main ingredient in the manufacture of black paint, as well as in the production of the the earliest, but brittle, 33 1/3 vinyl music records.

On a Barbados hiking vacation one may visit a national park, the location of the ruins of a historic Great House, and by way of cart roads a wild life reserve. An outstanding, highlight, is a heritage site, a 355 year old Jacobian styled plantation great house, chock full of history, stories of greed and murder to name but a few. It’s a functioning sugar plantation, with a fully refurbished and working 19th century steam mill used for extracting sugar cane juice. Just last year 2008 this old plantation won an international award for its very fine rum, it’s outstanding stories continue.

In this area there are cozy country villages, a very scenic lookout point that offers a majestic view of the Scotland District. a two hundred year old sugar wind mill, which operates during the local sugar harvest season, effectively demonstrating how sugar cane juice was extracted using wind power. There is also an interesting goat farmer, who is a popular newspaper columnist, and a musician in a local music band, outstanding personality in his own right.

There are down hill trails for those who do not want to engage up hill terrain, as well as trails that are flat coastal, rugged and scenic. Barbados offers trails leading between sugar cane fields, and into gullies (also known as ravines) with rock formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and flow stone.

A hiking vacation on tropical Barbados, is rewarding in so many ways, healthy fresh air, and exercise, with vitamin D from the sunshine, a welcomed relaxing change of pace, as you discover a new land and it’s people. Being out in the natural environment, is relaxing, and has proven to be therapeutic for spirit soul and body. A healthy and rejuvenating way to spend a vacation.