Come to Kingston – with its old forts and pirate haunts, grand Georgian mansions and poverty-stricken yards – and get to know the melting pot that made Marley.
Kingston isn't just the capital of Jamaica – it's the capital of reggae, and the musical legend of Bob Marley. So you don't just come to Kingston to 'see'. It's the kind of city that begs to be 'done', too. Not that there isn't plenty to look at in Kingston. This vibrant city – sprawling over the Hope River delta at the foot of the Blue Mountains – has seen the arrival of Arawak tribes-people, Spanish conquistadors, English plantation-owners and liberated slaves.
It has left a city rich in heritage, long before Bob Marley made his indelible mark on it. The oldest buildings are to be found in Spanish Town, the former capital to the west of Kingston proper. It dates back to 1534 and is reckoned to be the oldest town in the western hemisphere. Another piece of old Kingston worth visiting is in the harbour – Port Royal. This was the infamous haunt of pirates like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan.
Kingston itself has its fair share of impressive buildings, especially its distinctive Jamaican Georgian mansions of the 19th-century. Devon House is considered the finest, built by the country's first black millionaire – businessman George Stiebel. Its elegant gardens are a great example of Victorian ideals married to a palette of tropical plants. That style of garden is taken to its logical conclusion at the Hope Botanical Gardens, the largest botanical garden in the Caribbean.
The Bob Marley connection is found wherever you are in this city. But if you want to get a little closer to the music legend, a visit to the Bob Marley Museum – his last home and studio – has to be on the cards. To get a taste of the place that formed him, a trip to Trench Town Culture Yard can't be equalled. This is one of the notorious 'government yards' where Bob Marley lived, before he became famous. His first guitar, his tiny bedroom, and battered old VW camper van tell the story of that early poverty.
That may all give you an insight into its cultural history, but to truly know Kingston, you need to live and breathe its thriving street scene. Street-parties are still popular here, but nightclubs are fast taking over – with music from jazz to reggae to dancehall laying down the grooves in districts like Knutsford Boulevard. You might not find a beach in Kingston, but you're sure to find a slice of musical paradise.
