Things to do — Fort-de-France

Fort-de-France is ideally discovered on foot over a full day, starting early in the morning to enjoy relative freshness and market animation.

Start with the Grand Covered Market (opening 6am, peak 7-10am). It is the commercial and social soul of the city: Creole spices (turmeric, ginger, vegetarian chilli, colombo powder), arranged rums (vanilla, tamarind, fruit), fresh tropical fruits, traditional basketry, madras fabrics, artisan soaps. Two steps away, the fish market gathers morning fishermen with their fresh catches (snappers, marlins, tunas, dorados).

Continue with La Savane: vast esplanade shaded by 80 royal palms gently sloping down to the Caribbean Sea. Photograph the statue of Aimé Césaire and the more polemical one of Joséphine de Beauharnais (regularly vandalised, today decapitated — an assumed political act in memory of Joséphine's role in the re-establishment of slavery by Napoleon in 1802).

At the southern end of La Savane stands Fort Saint-Louis (17th century, Vauban fortification remodelled in the 18th). Still in military activity, it is visited only with a military guide (paid visit €8 adult, 1h30 — reservation advised).

The Schoelcher Library (1893) is undoubtedly the city's most remarkable building: an absolutely unique architectural masterpiece in the Caribbean. Still active as a municipal library, it houses the collection bequeathed by Victor Schoelcher.

Have Creole lunch in a city centre table d'hôtes (Le Yellow, Le Boudoir, or La Savane lolos): goat colombo, accras, ouassous, fish court-bouillon, accompanied by a ti-punch or planteur.

In the afternoon, visit the Saint-Louis Cathedral (1895, characteristic metal spire), the town hall (where Aimé Césaire was mayor for 56 years, interior memorial), the Aimé-Césaire park (calm and shaded) and possibly the pre-Columbian archaeology and history museum (at the former Saint-Antoine church). To close the day, drive up to the heights of Didier or Balata for the spectacular sunset panorama over the bay.