Must See Dominica - Roseau

While Roseau (pronounced 'rose-oh') is one of the region's poorer capitals, it's not the grimmest. Shopkeepers wash down the sidewalks every morning, the streets are lined with old stone-and-wood buildings, and mountains form a verdant backdrop.

The city has rebuilt its hurricane-damaged waterfront and now boasts a new cruise ship dock and promenade. There are a growing number of modern cement structures too, since this is a functional market town. For the most part walking the quieter backstreets feels like stepping back in time.

You can get a reminder of the more inhumane aspects of Dominica's colonial past in the cobblestone plaza of the Old Market, the site of a former slave market, where a wrought iron Victorian-style memorial marks the old block where slave auctions took place. There are interesting displays on the slave trade, Creole and Amerindian culture at the Dominica Museum. At the public market you can find fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs; the blowing of a conch shell signals fresh fish for sale. Other worthwhile sights include the old stone Catholic cathedral, the botanical gardens, the Anglican church, and the public library, built in 1905 with funds from US philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.