Holdin' Down the Fort

Trying to pick up one of the thousands of cannon
balls still sitting on the site.  It was real heavy.
(Beth's photo)

We continued our tour of Haitian history a few kilometers up a mountain at La Citadelle.  Haitians call this fort the 8th wonder of the world.  La Citadelle was commissioned by Henri Christophe in 1805 and was part of a larger decision by Jean-Jacques Dessalines to construct several forts in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitian to protect Haiti from French invasion.  Construction commenced in 1805.  It took 20,000 people 15 years to build the humongous fort.  It stands at 900 m at the top of mountain overlooking the northern coast.  Its wall are 4m thick and some reach heights of 40m.  It not only offers spectacular views but was an ideal location for a fort - which you will be able to see from the pictures below.

Although the fort was never actually used in battle, it was home to 160 cannons (captured from France, England and the US) as well as 50,000 cannonballs of various sizes.  In addition to seeing typical fort attractions (the powder magazine, officer's quarters, the hospital, kitchens), visitors can also see the tomb of Prince Noel, Christophe's son.  Henri suffered from a stroke in 1820 and committed suicide not long after.  His body is supposedly buried in the fort, although no one is sure of the precise location.  We continued the search, but no luck...

The hike up...approaching the fort.

I was hoping to hike up the mountain, but it was going to be about 8km just to get from Sans-Souci at the base of the mountain to the top.  Not everyone in the group was feeling the trek, so we ended up taking motos to the parking lot 6 km up and then we walked the remaining 2 km to the top.  The moto ride was a little scary (it was even worse on the way down because Beth and I were sliding forward into the driver), but it got us to the top in good time.  The views were incredible!  It was clear that Christophe picked an extremely strategic location for his fort.  You could see the water and potential oncoming armies marching across the plains and then behind the fort were more mountains that would have made invasion very difficult.  We spent a long time walking around the fort, exploring all the nooks and crannies and enjoying the view.

Although (I recently found out) there is a Haitian history museum in Port-au-Prince, there seems to be very little physical remnants of Haiti's history.  While certain practices, words, and stories endure, it was nice to see an actual artifact.  It was also nice to see that efforts are being made to preserve it.  It is such a beautiful piece of history, it would be a shame to see it fall into disrepair and forgotten about.

Frankie and I checking for enemies coming from the south.  Apparently, some were coming from the sky!  (Beth's photo)

(Beth's photo)

You can see the optimal location better in this picture - with the plains leading to the ocean and the mountains that protect it from the other sides.

The gang again.  (Photo courtesy of Beth)

(Beth's photo)

(Beth again.)

The inside of the fort.  The red-roofed building was the officer's quarters.  The governor's palace is the building with the flag on top.

You can get a better sense of the height of the walls.  The red dot in the grass is a person.

(Beth's photo)

Found the kitchen!

There were so many cannons throughout the fort.  I liked this one because you could see the line in the ground where it would have been on some kind of wheel contraption (I'm sure there's a name for it) that would allow you to aim it out the window.

Found this rig hanging off one of the sides.  Got me thinking about what it would be like to climb or repel off the 40m walls and what it was there for.

The hike back down.

Some flowers for all of you covered in 3ft. of snow!

Krèm mayi (Creme corn) which is the equivalent of ice cream.  Beth told me about these when we were still back in the States, and this was the first time we had seen them.  It tasted a little different than regular ice cream, but it is an excellent substitute.