The Nassau International Bazaar consists of some 30 shops selling international goods in a new arcade. A pleasant place for browsing, the $1.8 million complex sells goods from around the globe. The bazaar runs from Bay Street down to the waterfront (near the Prince George Wharf). With cobbled alleyways and garreted storefronts, the area looks like a European village.

Prince George Plaza, Bay Street, is popular with cruise-ship passengers. Many fine shops (Gucci, for example) are found here. When you get tired of shopping, you can dine at the open-air rooftop restaurant that overlooks Bay Street.

The Straw Market seems to be on every shopper's itinerary, and hopefully the government will finish rebuilding it soon (a fall 2001 fire gutted nearly the entire original facility). It may be operating again by the time you read this, though a 2005 reopening seems more likely. Even if it's not yet up and running, you'll still find Bahamian craftspeople weaving and pleating straw hats, handbags, dolls, placemats, and other items -- including straw shopping bags to hold your purchases -- in a temporary site between the waterfront and Bay Street, just east of the British Colonial Hilton. (A warehouse sitting on the 1st dock of Prince George Wharf is being prepared as its new and enlarged home.) Part of the fun here is bargaining with merchants for the lowest price you can get. The market opens Monday through Saturday at 8am, and starts winding down by 3pm.

Goin' Local -- Coconut Gin and a Fish Fry -- Locals call the small artificial island of Arawak Cay "Fish Fry." It lies right in the heart of Nassau, across West Bay Street (from the Botanical Gardens, walk back along Chippingham Rd.). Early in the day, you'll be able to buy ultra-fresh conch; vendors will crack the mollusk before your eyes (this isn't everybody's favorite attraction). They'll give you some hot sauce and tell you to chow down. Beginning around noon, you'll find at least a half-dozen simple bars and kiosks dispensing cracked conch, fried fish, and grits garnished with either spicy corned beef or tuna salad. With it, you can sample a favorite drink of the islands, coconut milk laced with gin (an acquired taste, to say the least, but you'll feel like a real Bahamian). It's at its most crowded and popular every Sunday night, beginning around 5pm until around midnight, when hundreds of Bahamians gather together next to bonfires to gossip, flirt, raise hell, and generally hang out.