DISCOVERING MARTINIQUE, ITS BANANA PLANTATIONS AND ITS RUM DISTILLERIES

Description

Discovering Martinique by exploring the two products that symbolize the island, bananas and rum, visiting the boundless plantations of Belfort and the historic distillery of Clément, where we can taste the famous liqueur: a tour for everybody!

What we will see

• Le Lamentin
• Belfort banana plantations and tasting of typical products
• Le François: Clément plantation, botanical garden, tropical forest, rum distillery and barrels, colonial estate
• Rum tasting

What we will do

• We leave the port of Fort-de-France and head east in the direction of Le Lamentin, one of the biggest cities of the island and the main commercial, industrial and shopping centre. It is also the location of Martinique International Airport.
• When we arrive at the Belfort Banana Plantation, we go for a tour of the plantation on board a tourist miniature train to learn all about the most important product of Martinique, stopping in the heart of the plantation to be able to watch the whole process closely, from irrigation to the harvest.
• At the end of the visit we can taste some typical products that are obtained from bananas, such as the famous fruit petals.
• We then head for Le François driving along the island's panoramic inland roads, to visit Clément Plantation, a significant example of the architectural and industrial heritage of the island of Martinique, where the Presidents of France and the United States, Bush and Mitterand, met in 1991.
• Our tour starts with the wonderful botanical garden, a 16 acre park surrounded by a tropical forest, with lakes and impressive trees, where there are more than 300 botanical species.
• Accompanied by our guide, we learn something about the industrial past of this place when we go to the old distillery, where the original equipment once used for the production of rum is now on display. Martinique's rum boasts controlled designation of origin similar to that of wine and liquors, the only designation for rum in the entire world.
• Walking around the plantation house, a typical example of Creole architecture, and its annexes, we learn something about domestic life on the plantation. Enveloped in the smell of wood and rum, we see the pyramids of barrels where rum is slowly aged.
• At the end of the excursion, there is a rum tasting session where we can appreciate all the characteristics of this typical Caribbean liqueur.

What you need to know

• We recommend that you book early because only a limited number of places are available.
• There is limited availability of English speaking guides.