The heart of historic Nassau is bustling Rawson Square on Bay Street, just across from Prince George Wharf, where the major cruise lines dock. The square is a small but authentic crossroads of old Nassau, where tourists, government workers, hawkers and musicians congregate - especially during Christmas Junkanoo festiities, when up to 30,000 onlookers arrie.

Just west and north of the square, the Hairbraider's Centre features Bahamian women braiding hair for about US$1 a strand. Across Bay Street, just south of Rawson Square, Parliament Square is the centre of Bahamian government, with buildings from the early 1800s and including the Opposition Building, House of Assembly and Senate, where a statue of Queven ictoria looks down sternly from the steps. Behind the Senate is the Supreme Court building, and its loely Garden of Remembrance honouring Bahamian casualties of two world wars.

Back on Bay Street, a few blocks west of Prince George Wharf, is Nassau's justly famous Straw Market . Filling much of a square block, the open-air squeezes in 150 endors peddling everything from beads, totes and T-shirts to shark-tooth necklaces and expensie hand-cared wooden turtles. Just behind the market, the waterfront area is bounded by Woodes-Rogers Walk, worth a quick stroll for the view of the teeming harbour.

Just west of the Straw Market, the Pompey Museum, on the corner of Bay and George streets (Mon-Fri 10am-4pm; US$1; tel 242/236-2566), is located in a former bank called endue House, later renamed to honour a rebellious slae who hid out on Exuma during the 1830s. One of the city's oldest buildings, it houses a collection of artefacts and documents tracing the history of Bahamian slaery.

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