Travel Guyana wishes to take you on  a journey to a beautiful city called  Georgetown also known as the  ‘garden city’. This beautiful city is  located on the eastern bank of the  Demerara River. This is the country’s  largest city with a population  comprising of over 200,000 people,  and came to life when the Dutch  made settlement up the Demerara  River on the site which is known today  as Stabroek. This was done as a look  out post for enemy ships that can be  seen on the Atlantic or on the  Demerara River, where a  message/warning would be alarmed  to all settlements up the river. This  watch house had resulted in the  creation of small settlements around  the area.

This area is entwined by canals protected by kokers that were built by the Dutch and later when the English took ownership of the country provided drainage to the city that lies 13 feet below high-tide level. The sea-wall helps to prevent flooding. As you stroll around the garden city one can find a profusion of tree-lined streets and avenues that contain many colonial wooden buildings and markets.

Around the western region of the town, this is where most of the important buildings in Guyana can be found. In this area is the Independence Square and Promenade Gardens, the Walter Roth  Museum of Anthropology, the National Library (built by Andrew Carnegie), the Bank of Guyana, the National Museum of Guyana, State House (built in 1852 and this the house of the President), and the St. Georges Cathedral. The cathedral is one of Guyana’s prestigious wooden buildings which were designed by Sir Arthur Bromfield and later in 1899 the building was completed. This building is characterized as one of the tallest building in the world at 44 meters high. In the cathedral one can find a large chandelier which was a gift from Queen Victoria. Within Georgetown also one can find many churches, mosques and mandirs.

  In Georgetown as well can be found the neo-Gothic Town Hall which was built in 1889 and the Victoria Law Courts (1887), Parliament Building, Stabroek market (1792) which contains the cast-iron clock tower that stares into the sky, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, City Engineer House, the Magistrate’s Court, St. Andrew’s Kirk and Independence Arch.

At the north of the city bordering the Atlantic coast contains Fort William Frederick, the Umana Yana, a conical thatched building built by the Wai-Wai Amerindian tribe. This was built for the 1972 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference. Also found in Georgetown on the outskirts of town is the University of Guyana and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Georgetown is accessed by the Cheddi Jagan International Airport which is 41 km south of the capital city. International flights such as from Toronto, New York, Miami, London, Bridgetown, Port of Spain and Paramaribo. Also there is a regular bus coach service between Guyana and Brazil (Boa Vista), Paramaribo, Suriname via ferry crossing on the Courantyne River.

                                                                                                  Image: The High Court

In the garden city there are many hotels such as the Blue Wave Apartments, Bransville’s Apartments, Campala Hotel, Cara Inn, Cara Suites, Florentine’s Hotel, Friend’s Apartment Hotel, Grand Coastal, Hotel Tower Guyana Pegasus Hotel, and others.