Anyone curious about the recent history of Grenada is bound to bump into Edwin Frank. He was once the voice of Radio Free Grenada - when the Americans invaded the socialist state in 1983, it was Edwin who was exhorting his compadres to resist the imperalist Yankee threat. His radio pronouncements were so famous that for many years after you could buy tapes of them in local bookshops.
And now what does Edwin do? The big, cheery ex-revolutionary works for the Grenada board of tourism, and his job is to let the world know just how beautiful his beautiful island is. Compared with trying to fend off the might of Ronald Reagan's troops, this is a very cushy job.
Grenada is unbelievably beautiful, and it's impossible not to realise this as soon as you arrive. It's not just the cliches of tropical sumptuousness: the bougainvillea, the clear Caribbean sea, the red flamboyant trees, the coconuts, the white sand. It's also the fact that no one in Grenada is permitted to build higher than a palm tree (no high-rise monstrosities here). It's the nutmeg, in its shiny red wrapper, which is everywhere. It's the ease (minibuses to take you around, watertaxis if you're glamorous). It's the food (cold cashew nut soup, callaloo). It's the rum.
We stayed where most tourists stay - on Grand Anse beach, which often comes up in surveys of the world's greatest beaches. The surveys must be right. It's big, it's white, it's soft, there are palms and coconuts and it's a very, very short walk to the sea. We stayed at the Spice Island Beach Resort, which is definitely worth it if you feel like splashing out: the hotel is more a collection of laid-back cottages directly on the beach: some have little private swimming pools, a few even have saunas. All the restaurant and bar areas are on the beach, facing out to the sea; but it's all very classy and elegant, more Rick's in Casablanca than Tom Cruise in Cocktail.
After a few days of sleeping under palm trees, the rest of the island exerted a nutmeggy pull and we decided to get up and do something. So we took the water-taxi from Grand Anse, and were at the capital city, St George's, in minutes. It's tiny - not a surprise, considering Grenada has a population of only 100,000 - but St George's is a pretty harbour town which is regarded as one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean, and is not to be missed.
The harbour is known as the Carenage, and the criss-cross of streets around it are lovely for a gentle wander. On top of the hill, meanwhile, you can visit Fort George: established by the French at the beginning of the 19th century, it was here that Maurice Bishop, the charismatic leader of the New Jewel Movement which led Grenada's socialist revolution, was shot dead in 1983. The Grenada National Museum, meanwhile, just off Young Street, is a real highlight, despite the comically grumpy curator. It chronicles the history of Grenada from the slave trade to the present day, and is particularly interesting on the revolution: as part of its exhibit it has two very succint sheets of paper typed on single-spacing: one headed "Generally Agreed Advantages of the Revolution" (education, health care etc), another headed "Generally Agreed Disadvantages of the Revolution" (mainly freedom of speech).
Incidentally, while pretty much every single travel article written about Grenada comments on how the US invasion was "welcomed" by the local people, we found that there was, on the contrary, much ambivalence about the intervention and much affection for Fidel Castro - perhaps because of the hospitals he was building on the island.
After the heat and seriousness of the museum, we visited the famous Nutmeg restaurant, looking out over the harbour: cool and funky, with the most delicious peanut punch (like a peanut butter milkshake - sorry, it's my kind of thing), this is one of the best restuarants on the island.
Another day, we headed inland and went for a tour of the island. A drive along the Grand Etang Road is fun in itself: the rainforest is a cool respite, with bamboo, nutmeg, cocoa, bananas and quite a few monkeys, if you look carefully enough. Another delightful sight as you drive around Grenada is the unbelievable amount of schoolchildren, all in identical uniforms: much of the population is young, and education is a priority on the island.
We drove to the secluded Concord waterfall, swimming beneath the torrent of water as the tropical rainstorm poured down. (Very Bounty bar.) We also visited a fantastic plantation, the Dougaldston Spice Boucan, now owned by Grenadians; you can see the cupboards where the beans are dried and the cocoa is laid to sweat; they're centuries-old, but still used for their originial purpose. The smells of the nutmeg, cocoa, coffee beans, bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon form a memorable combination, and you can buy a selection to take home.
Next up was lunch, and there really is only one place when you're touring the island: the Morne Fondue Plantation House. Built in 1908, with much of the interior set in time, the house is a popular place to stay and eat - it has a fixed menu, with typical Caribbean home-style cooking (plantains, pigeon peas, conch, flying fish) available if you book.
The Caribbean side of the island is very pretty, quaint and charming; but the Atlantic side is wilder and weirder. The palms billow over there, and the largest town on the Atlantic coast, Grenville, is a loud and noisy good-time place. ("There's always something going on in Grenville," says a local, with a knowing look.)
Nearby, you'll find one of the strangest places in the Caribbean: the disused Pearls airstrip. Unlike many disused airstrips, this one is rather an attraction: there is a restaurant, called De Air Strip restaurant, and at dusk people drive their cars here to chat, loiter and snog. For the tourist, there is also the fascinating Cold War spectacle of two old planes on the runway: an Aeroflot plane, donated by the Russians but never used, and a Cubana plane, stranded after the invasion and never recovered. The weather hasn't been kind to them, and weeds form a tangle in the cockpit, but the CCCP label and the absurd "Vote Reagan 84" sticker are a fascinating remnant of the recent past.
If you're here for more than a week, many have recommended a side-trip to the secluded island of Carriacou. Less than 20 miles from Grenada, it is tiny, with quiet beaches, and is famed for its excellent snorkelling and seclusion. You need to catch a plane or a boat from Grenada.
Now, it would be strange if you went to the Caribbean and didn't notice the music; well, we were even luckier and went to Grenada for their annual jazz festival. While not so big or well-known as nearby St Lucia's event, the "Spice Jazz" festival (Grenada, not surprisingly, is known as the Spice Island) was terrific fun and had a lot of reggae and a bit of soul, which absolutely suited a non-jazzhead like me.
I nearly fainted at George Benson (so many songs that you thought you didn't know like In Your Eyes, Turn Your Love Around and Give Me The Night) and had monumental fun listening to Steel Pulse (all the way from Birmingham, England) and, especially, Third World (One of their best songs, 96 Degrees in the Shade, is not, incidentally, about Grenada - we were there in low season, but it never got too hot.)
The jazz festival provided ready-made nights out with local Grenadians, who formed the majority of the audiences - if you think of taking a holiday here, it's well worth framing your trip around this buoyant 10-day event.
On the last day of our trip, we walked up to Quarantine Point, right at the tip of Grand Anse bay. It was also the last day of the jazz festival, and hundreds of people were dancing in the heat. We found a quiet spot on the grass, watched the sun dip beneath the glittery Caribbean, and thought about our new friend, the ex-revolutionary. Persuading visitors how beautiful Grenada is? Edwin, that must be the easiest job in the world.
Way to go
Getting there: Tropical Places (0800 0836662, tropicalplaces.co.uk) offers seven nights' all-inclusive at the Spice Island Beach Resort in Grenada from £1,199 per person, based on two sharing a twin or double room. The holiday includes return flights from Gatwick, transfers, all meals, drinks and a range of land and water sports. Next year's jazz festival runs from May 11 - May 19. Country code: 001 473. Time difference: GMT -4hrs. Flight time (via Barbados): 11 hrs 15 mins. £1 = 3.88 EC dollars.
