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Before going across to visit the Memorial de l'Abolition de l'Esclavage I decided to walk into the 1846 Notre Dame de Bon Port Basilica, also known as Basilica of Saint Louis. I was impressed with its painted ceiling and somehow the rather unique disposition of the straw chairs around the altar and the side chapels as if to create a welcoming atmosphere which I believe to have been the one felt by the numerous sailors who used to walk into this church in the past either before or after their sea incursions.
I was completely alone in the gloomy looking basilica and there I stayed for a long while reflecting on my own travel incursions.
The Memorial de l'Abolition de l'Esclavage needs no introduction, though the thing that mostly impressed me was the fact that it is underground as if "embedded" in the river bed which in the past witnessed the disembarkation of the slaves. The smell of the maritime breeze and its sound made the visit a lot more real than if one had come across such meaningful phrases somewhere else.
(To be continued)
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