Kingston
— — the harbour the mountains lean over.
Not only on a wall.
“The capital of Jamaica, set on the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world, with the Blue Mountains rising green and steep behind it. Downtown holds the old wharves and the National Gallery; uptown holds New Kingston and the museum at Bob Marley's old house on Hope Road. The city was founded in 1692 after the earthquake that took Port Royal across the bay. Mornings come in fast; the afternoon rain off the mountains comes in faster. from the studio
Kingston, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, set on the southeastern coast of the island on what is recognised as the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world. The Blue Mountains rise immediately behind the city, with Blue Mountain Peak reaching 2,256 metres roughly 30 kilometres to the northeast. The city was established in 1692 as a refuge for survivors of the earthquake that destroyed Port Royal across the harbour, became the capital of the colony in 1872, and held the capital of independent Jamaica from 1962 onward. The metropolitan population sits around 660,000.
The climate is tropical wet-and-dry, with daytime highs holding in the high 20s and low 30s Celsius for most of the year. The mountains shape the weather: warm Caribbean air pushes inland through the day, lifts against the slope, and returns most afternoons as a short hard rain that the city plans around. Trade winds from the east carry the steady ocean smell up through the lower neighbourhoods. The harbour itself is sheltered by the long thin spit of the Palisadoes, which still carries the road out to Port Royal and Norman Manley International Airport.
Most visitors arrive at Norman Manley International Airport on the Palisadoes, about 19 kilometres southeast of downtown. The Bob Marley Museum, the singer's former home at 56 Hope Road, opens Monday through Saturday and is the most visited site in the city. Devon House, the 1881 mansion in St. Andrew, sells the ice cream that Jamaicans line up for on weekends. The Blue Mountains coffee farms welcome visitors at Craighton, Old Tavern, and Strawberry Hill. Hurricane season runs June through November and shapes the rhythm of any travel plan.