Morning again finds the ship sailing into another island in the Caribbean, Martinique.  Fort-de-France, Martinique is about 170 nautical miles south of St. John and on the western shore of Martinique.  The island of Martinique is a Region of France and now we are using the currency of Europe, the Euro.  Here we went ashore with a couple others and rented a taxis to take us around the island.  We left the city and headed north to the Balata Church (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), a smaller size replica of the Sacre-Coeur Basilica in France.  My pictures of this beautiful church are enclosed.  We enjoy going the church and the wonderful view from its parking lot.  From the church we went up to the Botanical Gardens, this was Mother Nature at her best.  After living several years and then numerous visits to Europe, I am sure, if you want to see beautiful churches, buildings and other items, i.e. fountains, Europe is the place.  The Caribbean is for Mother Nature at her best, Botanical Gardens, beaches, swimming, and diving.  Of what I have seen, the Caribbean offers beautiful natural sites, not man made sites.  We left the gardens and headed down town Fort-de-France.  It was a very clean city and shopping looked very nice.   After a touring the downtown, we did not feel like shopping. However, a couple in our group stay behind to shop.  We seen the couple later on the ship and they told us they did some very good shopping.  We drove by the farmers market, courthouse and St Louis Cathedral on downtown tour.  After the tour we headed back to the ship.

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