Citadel La Ferriere 04/14/09

This morning we woke up and had a continental breakfast before departing to visit the Citadel. After a few negotiations with two different taxi drivers, we were on our way. The first thing that I noticed here is that the street are mostly paved which makes life for the residents much better. Travel is faster, more comfortable and cleaner. Also, the houses we passed seemed much nicer here in Cap Haitian. After about forty minutes of traveling we were at Milot, Haiti and at the base of the mountain where Christophe's palace, Sans-Souci, was located. Below is Sans-Souci.



After paying the entrance fee and getting a guide we went over to the palace to look around. Sans-Souci was built in 1813 and then destroyed in 1842 by an earthquake. There was still enough standing to see that it was a beautiful place. Once we walked through we got on two horses and headed up the mountain which is about 2780 feet to the highest point. It was fun riding the horses for a little while, but after about an hour it started to get a bit uncomfortable.

It seemed to have taken two hours including a short pit stop to get to the top. As we were approaching we could see the citadel as if it were a ship mounted on top of a mountain. We explored all over inside and out. There were numerous windows all mounted with cannons in each of them. Some were iron and others were bronze with very little corrosion. We couldn't tour the entire citadel because a film crew was there and a portion of the citadel was blocked off. From looking at some pictures online it looks like there were more interesting parts to explore. I'll have to come back another time. Here is a picture of the citadel from a distance.



I was amazed at the size and how all the stone was carried up the mountain by 20,000 men, including all of the cannons and cannon balls. There were hundreds of cannons and piles upon piles of cannon balls; some of which appeared to be exploding cannon balls.

The citadel, Citadel La Ferriere, had been built for safety in anticipation of an attach by Napoleon which never came. It was an incredible experience and definitely worth going back. Below is a picture of some of the cannons and cannon balls.