Things To Know Before And During Your Stay In Barbados....Bridgetown is the capital and major city of Barbados in the Parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is where you will find the House of Assembly of the Government. The administrative parishes are: St. Lucy, St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. James, St. Joseph, St. Thomas, St. Michael, St. George, St. John, Christ Church and St. Philip. Telecommunications: Direct dial telephone service, internet and email connections are available. The telephone area code on the island is 246.
Language: English is the official language. There is the 'Bajan' dialect that can be heard all around the island. Electricity: North American 110/115 volts. Most hotels provide converters when needed. Water: Safe to drink directly from your tap. National Holidays - 2008 New Year's Day - Monday, January 1st Errol Barrow Day - Monday, January 21st Good Friday - Friday, March 21st Easter Monday - Monday, March 24th National Heroes Day - Monday, April 28th Labour Day - Thursday, May 1st Whit Monday - Monday, May 12th Emancipation Day - Friday, August 1st Kadooment Day - Monday, August 4th Independence Day - Monday, December 1st Christmas Day - Thursday, December 25th Boxing Day - Friday, December 26th Dress Code: Beach wear is only for the beach. Casual summer clothing for days and casual elegant dress for other times. Driving: On this very British Isle, driving is on the left side of the road, unlike in North America where driving is on the right side. Weather: Fluctuates between 29 °C / 84.2 °F and a low of 23 °C / 73.4 °F. These are only approximations. The temperature rarely gets above 32 °C / 90 °F as there's the constant trade winds to cool you off! Time: 4 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in the winter and 5 hours in the summer. 1 hour ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time (EST) in the winter and the same during U.S. Daylight Savings Time. Banks operating in Barbados: RBTT Bank Barbados Ltd., 431-2500 First Caribbean International Bank, 431-5493 Bank of Butterfield, 431-4500 Bank of Nova Scotia, 426-7000 Currency: Barbadian Dollar. Click for currency assistant. Newspapers: The Barbados Advocate, 467-2000 The Nation, 430-5400 Churches: Predominately Anglican, however other religions denominations include Methodism, Judaism, Catholicism and possibly 100 more. St. George Parish Church, St. George, 436-8794 St. James Parish Church, St. James, 422-4117 St. John Parish Church, St. John, 433-5599 The [Catholic] Bishop's Office, 426-3510 Sharon Moravian Church, St. Thomas, 425-4011 Radio: CBC 900 AM, 434-1900 Gospel 790 AM, 467-7355 Q 100.7 FM, 434-1007 LOVE 104.1, 434-5683 The ONE 98.1 FM, 434-1981 MIX 96.9 FM, 436-4936, Fax 228-3550 VOB 92.9 FM, 434-1790, 434-1791, 434-1770, 434-1771 HOTT 95.3 FM, 430-7300 Television: Caribbean Broadcasting Corp., 467-5400. Carib Vision, 467-1000 or 866-542-8958.
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