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The Royal Pavilion and Glitter Bay on Barbados’ Platinum Coast

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I call them "light zones" — areas in the world displaying sunshine in powerful and rarified splinters of sheen, effusing plant leaves and tree bark with dancing fluid colors for just a moment, and it can not be photographed truly but only scratches a quick sketch across the retina before banked in the mind's memory and then there is a rapid change, squeezing the light in another direction and in a different spectrum.

While hiking in the rainforests of the Kenai the klieg barn doors opened a filter of red light lensed through a smoking volcano across Turn Again Bay. The light in Hawaii is an interchange of power and vision, afterall, light is nature's fastest moving force, so you have to be alert to catch it bouncing off the tips of elephant grass and the skin of the Kuhio trees. In the trade winds the head-high elephant grass sparkles and waves, as if the tules were shot into the ground by the light itself.

Light in the Caribbean oozes. You have time to grasp it. It is not always as colorful as in the Pacific. It is brighter. It is more golden. Ian Fleming named his home in Jamaica Golden Eye because the sun sets on the yachting lagoon and when viewed from Oracabessa (Golden Head in Spanish), a hill above the lagoon, it does look like an unblinking golden pupil.

The indigenous Arawak were the first to arrive in Barbados from South America. I wish I knew the Arawak description of light that they saw, but their language went extinct with the tribe. When the first British arrived in 1627, just a mile down the coast from Glitter Bay at present day Holetown, there were no natives around whatsoever. Give the British credit for navigating first to the best beaches.

The Glitter Bay site was named at the turn-of-the-18th-century by prominent Barbados businessman, George Manning. In the 1930s the property was acquired by Sir Edward Cunard, a member of the famous shipping family, and nephew of the renowned London hostess, Lady "Emerald" Cunard.

George built the Great House that is now part of the grand Fairmont Hotel resort at Glitter Bay in St. James Parish. He played host to celebrities and members of the British aristocracy in that halcyon era between the wars, including the late Ronald Tree, grandson of the Chicago tycoon Marshall Hall, and Cunard was Winston Churchill's frequent wartime host. Ronald Tree rented Glitter Bay for a holiday from the Cunard family in 1946 and later went on to develop Sandy Lane Hotel just around the corner.

Together Tree and Cunard made Glitter Bay a byword for refined relaxation on winter holidays. Their friends strolled through acres of landscaped gardens aflame with tropical flowers like the bougainvillea and the air-scenting lilies, shaded by the royal palms. You can now stay in the beautiful Beach House modeled on the Cunard family palazzo in Venice, Italy. All is still quiet grandeur reflecting the "glitter" of a bygone genteel society.

The two resorts at Glitter Bay recapture that style of gracious living. The gardens have flourished. The magnificent Beach House suites are named after former Cunard guests — Sir Edward, Lady Emerald, Clarence, the Marquis. The Great House still stands and today houses the reception and concierge areas, the gym, and administration offices.

The first hotel on the West Coast of Barbados was the Miramar Hotel, built in the 1940s. The original hotel was only 12 rooms in what today is home to the Palm Terrace Restaurant and the administrative offices at the newer and renovated Fairmont property, the Royal Pavilion.

The Café Taboras of today once was the Miramar manager's bungalow; the three bedroom villa was referred to as the "Garden Rooms". The Miramar was purchased in 1987 and condominiums were added or expanded into the hotel/condo Royal Pavilion complex that offers luxurious beach front rooms. The new property opened in time for Christmas that year, to a festive celebration.

Set on eleven acres with a half mile of platinum beach (the area is also called the Platinum Coast), the royal pink façade comforts guests in 72 oceanfront, deluxe rooms, and one three-bedroom private villa.

All Royal Pavilion accommodations come with a king-sized bed. I must say, without management provocation, that the spacious dream zone came with plump body pillows and it was the most comfortable night I ever had. There was an electronic mosquito zapper that I didn't need in the dry season; the pests were non-existant.

The room's private lanai has an overhang to keep out some of that glittering light that can be overpowering, but you won't miss the Jimmy Buffet moment sunsets as the golden orb peels quietly into the Caribbean. The shrubs around the lanai keep the room private and intimate. I found the padded beach loungers just a hop over a small wall. Each chair was a library of discarded European magazines, which I read with delight during the lazy days, especially the James Bond cartoons! Barbados is still very much British influenced, even though the Fairmont is a Canadian hotel chain. A New York Times Digest was also slipped quietly under my door daily by the colonists!

Even though the Royal Pavilion and The Glitter Bay Fairmont serve some of the best Bajan and international cuisine, the twice daily maid service kept the mini fridge stocked so you could get in more swimming and beach time.

The Glitter Bay Hotel is not set beach front like the Royal Pavilion, and I was puzzled that my room has plush and barefoot pleasing carpets, while Glitter Bay has cool terra cotta tiles. The maid must fume when vacuuming out the sand. The tropical fabrics, rattan furniture, and cool, coral painted walls gives my hideout a colonial feeling.

The 63 rooms of white stucco and Spanish-tiled Moorish/Andalusian themed Glitter Bay Fairmont was originally built on 19 acres as Cunard's private manse. There is a combination of deluxe rooms, one and two bedroom suites, two and three bedroom penthouses, and the five superb oceanfront suites in the Beach House.

The Great House was renovated and now houses the breezy reception area and concierge. One set of tennis courts is behind the mansion and another is near the Royal Pavilion.

Both properties have A/C and 24 hour room service, king beds, with twins and rollaways available on request. Glitter Bay rooms have pool and garden views, so that is why I chose the Royal Pavilion with beachside rooms. The outdoor pool has a separate kids' plunge, shared by all from both hotels. I come to the Caribbean to swim in the ocean, so again the Royal Pavilion receives my vote.

The only real difference between the two properties is that Glitter Bay has one bedroom suites and penthouses with stoves and refrigerators, complete with crockery and utensils. I don't cook, especially on vacation, so the RP is again the nominee for a choice beach hangout. Both hotels offer direct dial telephone and voice mail.

The Fairmonts share these facilities: Fitness and massage centre featuring LifeCycle and LifeStep, treadmills, free weights, aerobics, and a personal trainer, tennis pros for instruction on day or night-lighted courts. There are two tennis courts on the dual properties. Only a mile away is the Robert Trent Jones, Jr. championship Royal Westmoreland 18-hole golf course. There is also access to the Sandy Lane Golf Course which had it's new section completed in late 2002. The Fairmont shuttle is complimentary to both golf courses. Complimentary watersports include snorkeling, windsurfing, hobie cat, and sunfish sailing.

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Kriss Hammond , Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com


About the Author
Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Leave Your email next to the logo for FREE e travel newsletter.