365 beaches!
Discovered by Christopher Columbus and named after the church of Santa Maria La Antigua in Seville, Antigua is a small Caribbean paradise of about 280 km². A British colony until the 80's, Antigua shows only part of its colonial past: the official language is English and they drive on the left, but the locals are fiercely attached to their pre-colonial origins, the struggle for independence, and the current political scene.
Everything is neatly summed up in the colors and shapes of the national flag: a yellow sun, symbolizing of the birth of a new era, blue for hope, and finally red for blood shed in the colonial period. White is the color of the chains of the oppressor, black of African origin of the population. The 365 beaches (one for each day of the year, as the local expression goes) are all fine white sand beaches and the sea comes in every shade of turquoise. No wonder tourism is such an important industry, making up over 70% of the island's GDP. This is a phenomenon that developed on the island over the past fifteen years.
