Georgetown, Guyana

Words and photos by Brett Goulston  

I arrived with Kate into cricket-mad Guyana from Panama City. The airport at Georgetown (named after King George III) is about an hour’s drive from the city. Our driver, Patrick, talks the entire journey so we feel like we know a lot by the time we arrive in town.  

We’re booked in to Cara Lodge, a famous colonial-style building not far from the city centre. After a lengthy flight the lodge is indeed a very pretty sight: a beautiful timber construction built in 1840. We’re upgraded to a room where Prince Harry and Mick Jagger have both stayed on separate occasions. How cool is that! we say to ourselves while high-fiving. While this region is not necessarily known for its food, the restaurant in Cara Lodge is very good. Try the pepper pot stew, a local dish with tamarind, bay leaf and heaps of pepper added to slow cooked beef.  

The next morning we start our city tour. It takes in the local sites of significance including some beautiful timber buildings left over from the British and Dutch eras, before Guyana claimed independence in 1966. After taking many photos of the buildings, I ask our guide Salvador – born and bred in Georgetown – if UNESCO has listed any of them. I find out it’s quite a sore point because Paramaribo, the neighbouring capital of Suriname is  UNESCO-listed and Georgetown is not. He changes the conversation.  

The core sites of the city include the gorgeous St George Cathedral, which we’re told is the biggest wooden building in South America; the famous Stabroek markets and the parliament building constructed in the 1830’s. The highlight for Kate and I however is the GCC – the Georgetown Cricket Club. We’re taken on a tour inside and out. The bar, full of test cricket paraphernalia, is something straight out of the 1970’s. You can just imagine Clive Lloyd (a local hero and captain of the West Indies Cricket team for many years), having a drink with fellow players at this bar.  

Georgetown is a lovely half-day walking tour.  Blue Dot Travel includes the core sites in our small group tour to The Guianas’ departing early 2019. Click here for more details.