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The artist Paul Gauguin spent nearly four months, from June to October 1887, in Martinique, and was dazzled by the beauty of the island and the richness of the motifs lying before his eyes. Shortly after his arrival, he settled in the company of his friend the painter Charles Laval in a cabin built on a property two kilometres south of Saint-Pierre: "Below us, the sea and a sandy beach to go swimming: and on either side coconut and other fruit trees, wonderful for the landscape painter. What appeals to me most are the people, and every day there are continuous comings and goings of negresses dressed in colourful finery, with endless variations of graceful movements.” The scenes he painted describe the to and fro of the women who came every morning to pick the ripe fruit, guavas, mangoes and coconuts, which they carried in baskets balanced on their heads to the market in Saint-Pierre.

How poignant, then, to look back on the history of Martinique and realise that only 15 years later, the capital Saint-Pierre, then referred to as the ‘Paris of the Lesser Antilles’, was buried by a volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée. Today, Martinique’s culture blends French and Caribbean influences, and enjoys a higher standard of living than most of other Caribbean countries. The finest French products are available in the thriving boutiques of the new capital Fort-de-France.

This sensual island will delight the visitor with its luxuriant shimmering colours, the fragrance of its flowers and herbs, and the subtle and complex flavours of its cuisine. There are two varieties of great cooking in Martinique: very French-influenced (this is a departement of France, and you can get a superior Camembert and jambon here than almost anywhere in the Americas), and barely French-influenced, usually described as ‘Creole’. Relatively expensive restaurants will bring you the former, while its standard is a little unpredictable. But the latter, which is basic, uses wonderful local ingredients: fish, shellfish, pork, beef, coconut and bananas- seasoned with the rich variety of spices befitting a one-time centre of international trade. If you are willing to exercise a little patience with the service (friendly but inefficient), you will be rewarded with delicious, exotic meals at prices which often seem incomprehensibly low.

Historical sites worth seeing include La Pagerie, where Napoléon's Empress Joséphine was born in 1763 (the year that France relinquished rights to Canada in exchange for the French West Indies); Diamond Rock, a 600-ft. pinnacle in the sea manned by the British in 1804 and registered in the British Navy as an armed warship for 18 months, and St-Pierre, Martinique's principal city until May 8, 1902 when Mt. Pelée volcano erupted, wiping out the city and its 30,000 people in just three minutes.

Away from the beach, there are abundant sightseeing opportunities in Martinique. Visit one of the island’s distilleries and sample the excellent rums which have been awarded the ‘appelation d’origine contrôlée’, previously reserved for French cheeses and wines. There are several museums with intriguing stories to tell of Martinique’s past and the impressive Earth and Sciences Discovery Centre situated in Saint-Pierre, now known as ‘The Little Pompeii of the Caribbean’, and devoted in particular to the documentation of Mount Pelée’s devastating eruption and some of the other volcanoes in the region. Called the ‘Isle of Flowers’, lovers of exotic fauna will enjoy visiting the MacIntosh Plantation to the north with its wonderful variety of species. In the suburbs of Fort-de-France is one of Martinique’s most beautiful flower gardens, Jardin de Balata, a memorable showcase of more than one thousand species of plants, trees and flowers.