Castiles, Santa Lucia - December 2008

Saint Lucia is one of the Windward Islands, first visited by Europeans in about 1500 and colonized successfully by France in 1660. Great Britain took control of the island from 1663 to 1667 and subsequently went to war with France an additional fourteen times before finally taking control in 1814. The island was a member of the Federation of the West Indies until 1979 when it became an independent state of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Castries is the capital city with a population around 60,000 and has been rebuilt a number of times, following major fires in 1796 and 1813, and most notably on June 19, 1948. Derek Walcott Square, in the center of the city, is the location of The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Castries. At 200ft long by 100ft wide the cathedral is the largest church in the Caribbean.
During WWII, a German U-boat snuck into Castries harbor and sank two allied ships. Check here to look around town.