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Immediately on the north side of the Swing Bridge is the
Marine Terminal, housed inside the beautifully restored former
Belize City Fire Station of 1923. The terminal is the departure
point for boats to the northern cayes, and is also home to a couple
of superbly designed new museums (both Mon-Sat 8am-4.30pm; US$2 for
a combined ticket). Downstairs, the Coastal Zone Museum
contains fascinating displays and explanations of reef ecology, the
highlight being a 3-D model of the entire reef system, including the
cayes and atolls; upstairs, the Maritime Museum exhibits an
amazing collection of models and documents relating to Belize's
seafaring heritage. Opposite the Marine Terminal is the vast wooden
Paslow Building, which houses the post office on the ground
floor. A block east of the Marine Terminal, at 91 North Front St,
The Image Factory (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm; free but donations welcome)
hosts Belize's hottest contemporary artists. The gallery puts on
outstanding, often provocative exhibitions and you often get a
chance to chat to the artists themselves.
Continuing east, past the "temporary" market, which often has a
greater variety of produce than the official market south of the
Swing Bridge, you'll pass the "tourism village" an
expensive new
harbor side shopping mall, presenting an ersatz view of Belizean
culture to hordes of cruise ship passengers. The tip of the north
shore is marked by a small park and the Bliss Lighthouse, a
memorial to Baron Bliss. Walking around the shoreline, you pass the
Fort George hotel and Memorial Park, which honors the
Belizean dead of World War I. In this area you'll find several
well-preserved colonial mansions - many of the finest have now been
taken over by embassies and up market hotels.
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 Belize
travel guide
Caribbean
guide
Facing the park at 2 South Park St, the National Handicrafts
Center (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm), sells high-quality Belizean crafts at
fair prices.
The Fort George area is also home to two of Belize's foremost
conservation organizations: the Belize Audubon Society
(Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm) at 12 Fort St, which manages several of the
country's wildlife reserves, and the Program for Belize
(Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm) at 1 Eyre St, which manages the Rio Bravo
Conservation Area - both have bookshops selling useful wildlife
guides and are worth a visit to pick up news on their latest
conservation efforts. A little to the north, at the corner of Hutson
Street and Gabourel Lane a block from the sea, is the US Embassy, a superb "colonial" building which was actually constructed in New
England in the nineteenth century and then shipped to Belize. Just
beyond here, in front of the Central Bank building, the former
colonial prison has undergone an elegant conversion to the splendid
Museum of Belize, Belize City (Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; US$5; with interesting displays of the
city's history on the ground floor and a stunning, priceless
collection of Maya art and artifacts upstairs.
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Belize
Belize City
Where to go
When to go
Getting around
Costs, money, banks
Currency, exchange
 Eating
and drinking
Mail &
communications
Safety and the police
Work and study
Information
The media
Holidays
and Festivals
Shopping,
souvenirs
Belize city
Arrival and information
Restaurants
Nightlife,
entertainment
Tours,
buses
Listings
travel details
Explore Belize City
North side
South side
Cayo and the west
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Belize city
to San
Ignacio
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Belize zoo
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Belmopan
Practicalities
Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Guanacaste
Park
Benque Viejo del Carmen
Caracol Ruins
Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve
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San Antonio
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San Ignacio
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Arrial
Restaurants
Kayaking,canoeing
Xunantunich, San Jose
Corozal, Orange Walk
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travel details |
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