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POINTE-A-PITRE is liveliest around the Quai de la Darse , an extensive pier edging the length of the waterfront. The quay itself is lined with Guadeloupe's most lively markets - a jamboree of spices, fruit, fish, T-shirts and various island sundries are hawked here from dawn until mid-afternoon - and serves as the departure point for ferries to the outer islands. The scant local sights are within walking distance of the quay, starting a couple of blocks west, at no. 9 rue Nozieres, where a handsome colonial house contains the modest Musee St-Jean Perse (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 8.30am-12.30pm; ?2.28), devoted to the island's native-born Nobel laureate poet. The quality of the displays is patchy, though there are some amusing postcards of bygone Guadeloupe. A better collection is situated a few blocks further west, at no.24 rue Peynier, where the Musee Schoelcher (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; ?1.52) showcases abolitionist Victor Schoelcher's assorted bric-a-brac - his own copy of the Venus de Milo among them. A couple of blocks north of the Quai, behind the charmless Place de la Victoire that commemorates Victor Hugues' victory over the British, is Pointe-a-Pitre's major landmark, the Gustav Eiffel-designed steel Cathedrale de St-Pierre-et-St-Paul . Look for screws and bolts protruding from the columns in the apse. The Aquarium de la Guadeloupe (daily 9am-7pm; ?6.40, ?3.51 under-12's), five kilometres east of Pointe-a-Pitre, will appeal to kids, especially its open turtle and shark aquariums. The nearby remains of Fort Fleur-d'Epee (daily 9am-5pm; free), a seventeenth-century Vauban-style military base, have commanding views of Grande-Terre and the sea, but little remaining infrastructure.
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