Citadel

This weekend we went on an excursion to the Citadel! The Citadel is an historical landmark in Haiti that was built in the early 1800’s after Haiti declared Independence. It was built by Roi Christophe who died in 1820. They built this structure up on top of a mountain to protect themselves from the French but it was never used. There are cannons and cannon balls from the 1800’s still at the monument.

 

It is about 3 hours to hike the whole thing so we rode moto’s (a Haitian motorbike) to the top parking lot and then walked from there which took about a half hour. And that was enough with the heat and steep incline! 

 

The neat part is that Haiti is really trying hard to increase their tourism industry as it is a beautiful country! I visited the Citadel 4 years ago on one of my first trips to Haiti and so much has changed. In the parking lot area before you walk up there is now sheltered areas for the woman to sell their merchandise, areas to eat and bathrooms! I was so shocked. Once you get up to the citadel there are brand new washrooms, railings over the dangerous parts, informative signs, etc! I love seeing the changes that are happening to this amazing country!