Kingston – Jamaica

Looking at my historical images of Jamaica I can see that the country has come a long way after 58 years of independence. The images I will be presenting will cover Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. Travelling from Westmoreland to visit Kingston for 24 to 48 hours is an enjoyable event. I will always capture the event. Because of the COVID19 pandemic you will need to check with the Jamaican authority before visiting Kingston. From the information being publicised, the North coast and Negril are open for tourists.

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From uptown Kingston, looking northwards you will see Kingston being bordered by the mountains and looking south towards downtown the Kingston Harbour and the Caribbean Sea marks the end of Kingston. The above panoramic images capture this.

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One of my posts, Black History Month UK mentioned my stay in Havendale in the mountainous side of Kingston. This was in the days when there was only photographic film for capturing images. I have not being there since that visit and that is a faded memory. It is always good to capture images of a moment in time. The two images above capture the moment.

When I lived in Portmore it was the opposite way around. I would travel to Westmoreland for the weekend. The downtown bus park and getting a seat was an experience. It was a lovely view whilst looking at the south coast of Jamaica on the way home.

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The above two images are not of Kingston. This is just to show that I now use the North coast to travel back to Westmoreland. This trip is facilitated by air conditioned coaches travelling along the toll road to Ocho Rios and then along the north coast to Montego Bay airport to Negril and finally to Savanna la mar. You can make the same trip along the south coast but it is good to have a change.

Let’s go back to downtown Kingston.

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As can be seen from the above images downtown Kingston is where you go to shop and it can get quite busy. There was not much reason to explore uptown Kingston so I only visited places like Hope Garden for concerts.

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I mainly spent the time riding the buses to get to my next destination so I did not really explore downtown Kingston.

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On one visit to Kingston I decided to have a walk around downtown Kingston. The above images captured that event. I went as far down as the sea front. Downtown Kingston is a nice place but for reasons/issues that are going on in Jamaica it means that there is not much development going on downtown.

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Half Way Tree was my land mark for Kingston. If I was ever to get lost in Kingston I would head back to Half Way Tree.

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Half Way Tree and the immediate vicinity looked quite nice at night time and quite colourful when Christmas comes around.

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My first visit to Jamaica’s carnival was in 2019. It was a lively and exciting experience. This event kept by camera busy. There are several posts about this on my website Jamaican Carnivals, Easter in Jamaica, Car Nival and Xodus – Movements of ….

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In uptown Kingston you will find the Emancipation Park and at the entrance to the park you will see the sculptor that raised a few eye brows when it was first installed. To the right of the statues is the Jamaica Pegasus hotel. I enjoyed my stays at this hotel but these days I am mainly in the Barbican or Portmore.

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The rooms and the service provided are excellent at the Jamaica Pegasus.

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From the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel you can capture a lovely sunset and the night lights are just as good.

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I always enjoy a wonderful nights rest in the hotel. You have to rise early to capture the sunrise over the mountains. Jamaica is a nice place to be and the same can be said for the capital Kingston. There is still much more to see in Kingston but I will have to do this on future visits to Kingston.