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!
