Saint Barth, a haven of luxury in the Caribbean

Saint Barth seems a miniature replica of the French Riviera. Discounting the warmth and color of the water, nothing reveals its location in the Caribbean Sea. Actually, if it weren't because to get here you have to cross the Atlantic, it could assumed that Saint Barth is in Cannes with tropical climate. This small and secluded island is considered a paradise of luxury.
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It was discovered by Christopher Columbus, who decided to baptize it with the name of his brother Saint: San Bartolomé (Saint Barthélemy or Saint Barth, in English). In the 17TH century were the French who settled in this small paradise for its strategic port for, later to become the sole Swedish possession in the Caribbean. The Swedish heritage is seen in the own capital of the island, Gustavia, which is named in honor of Gustav III
Gustavia, which despite retain something of his Swedish past, is eminently French. It is the place where to find, even if it is noon, women, Vuitton wallet and clothes of the best shops international and men with shirts of linen and the yacht around the corner, in the breakwater of the port of Gustavia.
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St. Barth is a chic destination, with more than two hundred boutiques free of tax, and villas that are rented for five thousand dollars per week in high season. It is a place of rest for most granado of the jet set European and American, which comes out here avoiding crowds of other coasts and the paparazzi.
True dream beaches, lush vegetation and punctuated by exclusive hotels, it is combined with peculiar harmony Caribbean exoticism with the chic French refinement. It is no wonder that it has become a refuge of millionaires (the Rockefeller family or the Rochild have luxurious mansions) or famous, as Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dustin Hoffman, Mariah Carey, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Hall are just some of the famous who have chosen the island to spend a few days of rest and visit it frequently.
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In Saint Barth nothing is cheap. Nor temperature seems to be that there are in the rest of the Caribbean, because they are from the North-East the fresh winds of the Atlantic and humidity rarely exceeds 60 percent. Its history includes colonizers of lineage very different from those who came to the rest of the Antilles.
Sixty years ago there was no electricity and the 8 sounded a campaign announcing that it was time to go to bed. Still, it took precedence the small town spirit of the first inhabitants, French who colonized it in the middle of the 17TH century.
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In 1784, France and King Gustavo III of Sweden agreed that it would manage the island in Exchange for a port permit in Gothenburg. This is how Saint Barth became Swedish island in the Caribbean, which never was basis for the traffic of slaves that the colonists brought from Ghana and Nigeria, but a prosperous free port, with paved streets, three forts and white population.
Except for this picturesque touch, in Saint Barth does find something that seems not to have pulled out of a fashion magazine. In its streets, opposite the showcases of Hermes, Polo, Gucci, Cartier and many other international brands, pass one after another Audi, Ferrari and Mercedes Benz. …..
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To eat in Saint Barth should do it at latest at noon, and with reservation, if you want to do it at three in the afternoon, insurance will stay with your appetite intact because it will be impossible. It is one of the laws of know how to live.
Its hospitality as it could not be otherwise also is luxury: among the hotels that stand out are:
Hotel St. Barth Isle de France, The Hotels of St. Barth, La Banane, Hotel Guanahani and Spa, Le Sereno Hotel, Villa Golden Reef, Tom Beach Hotel, Hotel Le Toiny, Eden Rock St. Barths, Hotel Carl Gustaf, Christopher Hotel, Hotel Emeraude Plage, Hotel Les Ondines Sur La Plage, Salines garden Cottages, Aubergue de la Petite Anse, Hotel Le Village St. Jean, Hotel Baie des AngesLes Mouettes, Tropical Hotel,...
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Via: visitandoelmundo