Where the Dutch Hospital, the house of the surgeon and the medical garden once were.
- Hospital Street
- 24/7
Growing up, my friends and I used to go fishing behind the Lighthouse and Dutch Hospital. We knew the best spots to find different types of fish including mullet.
7 am
An old couple walks along the quiet Hospital Street. Their pace is brisk. They pass a police station — little do they know an old Portuguese fort is hidden right behind it. They find shade under a beautiful breadfruit tree, which so happens to be the oldest in the country. They pause at the lovely Lady’s beach and take a rest on a stone slab, only to find out they are sitting on an old gunpowder storage building. If only stones could speak... Nothing here is what it seems.
7 pm
Once upon a time, sailors and soldiers got treated for seasickness, malaria, dengue and missing limbs here. In hospital wards, colonial officers could recover and enjoy a welcome respite from duty. Makeshift medics experimented with herbal remedies in the adjacent herbal garden. The entire white-washed colonial complex has long been converted into a chic shopping and dining destination. Only its name — Dutch Hospital —never changed throughout the centuries.