We were keen to visit the historic town of St Pierre to the north of the island and, with a rain-free forecast, decided to catch the local communal taxi there.  The town, formerly the capital of Martinique, is in the shadow of Mont Pelée, a volcano which erupted with catastrophic impact destroying the town on 8 May 1902, killing virtually all of its 30,000 inhabitants. Although the town has been re-built, there are stark reminders of the tragedy in the blackened ruins that remain to this day.

The story of this event is told with the aid of some extraordinary film footage at the nearby Centre de Découverte des Sciences de la Terre, together with a fascinating account of the geological history of the whole Caribbean island chain.