CLAY VILLA PLANTATION, ST. KITTS

The following day we cruised into the port of Basseterre on the beautiful island of St. Kitts. In the photo below you can see the now-dormant, volcanic peaks of the island.

Several of our group chose the shore excursion that included a tour of the Clay Villa Plantation and Gardens, an historic, 10-acre property that dates back to 1763. It is the only plantation on the island never to profit from slavery. (NOTE: Unfortunately I don't see this excursion currently offered by Royal Caribbean.)

The tour began with an historic overview of the house and plantation by the owner's husband:

As we walked up towards the plantation house, we walked past some of the beautiful native, tropical foliage...

 










































I love the statues and whimsical figurines that are scattered all around the gardens...

We were able to tour the house even though it is actually the family's home...look at those beautiful flowers!

Turn 180 degrees and look at the view of the blue Caribbean from the house!

Not a bad view from your front door...

Beautiful period furniture still decorates the home...the most beautiful part of the interior of the plantation house is the original 17th-century wood floor which is polished FOUR TIMES A DAY.

Clay Villa Plantation takes in and rehabilitates injured birds and monkeys. Here is a rescued lovebird...

and rescued vervet monkeys...

We really enjoyed our visit to Clay Villa Plantation!

Our next port stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. I'll show you great photos of my walk through the old town in the next blog post.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos in this post were taken by my husband and me during our Caribbean cruise in May, 2014.