MARIE-GALANTE

Richès Karayib offers a trip to the beautiful island of Marie-Galante.

Let’s discover together all its little secrets .

We will close this visit with Mrs Maryse Etzol, President of the Community of The Communes of Marie-Galante and Mayor of Grand-Bourg, who will share with us the actions carried out and future actions promoting the Marie-Galante Caribbean integration.

Away from the big shopping malls, traffic jams and mass tourism, Marie-Galante is a peaceful island with picturesque charm.

The « Grande Galette » (the big biscuit), so called because of its round geographical shape with low relief, has an important architectural heritage linked to the sugar industry: former sugar factories and old windmills, which gave the island another nickname, “Island of a Hundred windmills”.

Today, sugar and rum production still represents an important part of the local industry, with three distilleries and a sugar factory.

Marie-Galante’s rum is known for its exquisite taste, as planters have managed to preserve traditional farming methods (hand-cutting, transporting in ox carts).

The island is also spared from chlordeconic pollution, which guarantees quality agricultural production and livestock production.

With 10,000 inhabitants and 158 km2, Marie-Galante is the least densely populated island in the Caribbean.

It is in a situation of double insularity, because people and goods must pass through mainland Guadeloupe, located 30 km further north, before being able to taste the sweetness of the Marie-Galante life.

The trip to Marie-Galante is usually via Grand-Bourg, its capital, giving access to the other two municipalities, Capesterre and St. Louis.

Tribute to the Missing Sailors and the Soldiers of the Second World War (St. Louis)

Wide white sand beaches, lagoons lined with coral reefs, hiking trails to discover mangroves, cliffs or the countryside: Marie-Galante offers a rich variety of Caribbean natural heritage, always with the pleasure of a discovery far removed from the main tourist flows.

Time becomes a wealth, a luxury that we take pleasure in no longer counting, to be won over by the tranquillity and serenity offered both by the nature of Marie-Galante and the people of Marie-Galante.

The sea turtles are not troubled: they continue to lay their eggs on the beaches of the island of Cent Moulins (especially on the beach of Trois-Ilts in Grand-Bourg), making Marie-Galante a biodiversity hotspot.

However, the tranquillity displayed can be misleading:

once a year, the island hosts one of the most important Caribbean music festivals, “Land of Blues”, doubling its population and attracting a Caribbean and European audiences.

(Whitsun weekend)

@Montabord Jean-Jacques

Throughout the year, life is punctuated by events attracting large audiences:

the patron Saint’s feasts of the three communes,

the “Woy Mi Mas” in Grand-Bourg (parade of dyed groups with snare drums like the Guadeloupean carnival, gwoka)…

or the Short and Sandals event (August 15).

The beaches of Trois-Îlets (Grand-Bourg)

The beach of La Feuillère – La Ferrière (Capesterre)

The beach of Saint Louis town and Vieux Fort (St. Louis)

Maryse ETZOL, President of the Community of The Communes of Marie-Galante and Mayor of Grand-Bourg

Marie-Galante is the ultimate Caribbean island, considered one of the most authentic and spared mass tourism and excessive development of commercial activities.

It has an exceptional, preserved natural heritage, which we wish will enhance the life of the people of Marie-Galante and visitors.

And the Caribbean…

Geographically, we are close to Dominica: this allows us to have many exchanges with the Dominicans, with whom we always maintain excellent neighborly relationships.

The City of Grand-Bourg is also twinned with the Babonneaux District in St. Lucia, which allows us to have exchanges, especially for schoolchildren and learning English.

As a Caribbean island, Marie-Galante must be on the path of sustainable development that takes into account its identity, offering its inhabitants the ability to live there, while preserving its natural and cultural heritage.

To do this, we are moving towards energy self-sufficiency and food self-sufficiency. We also carry out many activities to enhance the architectural heritage.

The Great Changes

As Mayor of Grand-Bourg, I can announce that the town centre will soon be transformed, to give its inhabitants and visitors the feeling of being genuinely welcomed. The ferry station and the port esplanade will have access to the sea, offering a coastal walk that will lead to a new fish market, enhanced by the growth of new vegetation.

A “bokits-agoulous” space will make it a friendly place to eat.

Furcie TIROLIEN Street, which leads from the landing stage to the Church Square and the food market, will be pedestrianised, to make the town centre even more attractive, serving small businesses.

This renewal takes into account the Caribbean climatic risks (cyclonic wind, rising waters) and natural risks(earthquakes, tsunamis).

Architecture and urban planning adapt to our natural environment and we adapt them to our way of life.

I hope that these projects will be part of an adaptation of the Caribbean to a changing economic and climate system.

Maryse Etzol