A RESTFUL DAY

I had the intention of sleeping late this morning but should have known better. Sleeping late is definitely not one of my talents J. So I found myself at breakfast at the same time as every other morning. Today, along with the pineapple, watermelon, bananas and paw-paw, was my favourite … mango! And there was fresh mango juice too! I had a small fruit feast along with my slice of toast and donut thing.

After breakfast I decided that I needed a really long walk to counteract all the sitting around this week. My plan was to walk along the beach as far as possible and then track back to town on the main road. It started off well. I got onto the beach next to Livingston’s Café and spent some time walking along looking at the expensive hotels that have been built almost on the beach and at the boats in the water and even some on the beach.

Going fishing

Paddling off

  

At anchor 

 Repairing the nets

But then I came across this sign:

So what with not wanting to get arrested or even shot for going where it is forbidden, I turned back and went up onto the road hoping to find my way around the buildings that were there and then get back onto the beach. It turned out to be a cul-de-sac that had the president’s office at the end, so more back tracking. Eventually I got to the main road and walked along until I found a way back to the beach. Once there it was lovely and I had the beach pretty much to myself.

A lovely quiet beach

After a while though I came to one of the fishing boat launch sites and did feel a bit out of place being the only mzungu (white person) around so I walked back to the main road and returned to Stonetown. Strangely all roads seem to lead to the market in this place and I took yet another amble through there. It was hectically busy, more so than the other times I had been there - possibly because it was the first time I had been there in the morning. I did manage to get some photos:

 A mosque along the way to the market

 Fish for sale outside the fish market

 Fish on a cart having just been bought

 Inside the vegetable and spice area of the market

 Inside the meat market

 Inside the fish market

 Rice, legumes and spices for sale

 One of the stalls on the outside of the market

From the market I walked down to the port to see the area were the fishermen land their catch. There is another fish market there too. I got laughed at by everyone because I walked in, took photos of the cats they were feeding J and walked out again. My next stop was the landing site. Wow it is a filthy place and, in-between all the grime, there are fish for sale too.  The fish were fresh looking and the sellers kept dowsing them with water to keep them as fresh as possible but the smell was horrendous!

 Best fed cats!

 Where the fish are offloaded and some are sold right there too

 This ship is going nowhere!

 The selling area

Last night my Kiwi neighbour recommended a restaurant where he said I could find vegetarian items on the menu so I went in search of it. It was back across the other side of Stonetown which contributed well to my exercise plan. I did find it but they did not have a menu outside like most restaurants and there was no one around to ask for a menu so I just turned around and started back to my hotel. As I was walking along a car stopped next to me and it was Deddah, the owner of Abuso Inn where I am staying. He offered me a lift back to the hotel and because it wasn’t actually all that far and I had walked enough and it was hot, I accepted.

I spent the remainder of the morning completing some work and then meandered off to find lunch. It is funny how quickly I get used to having 10am snacks so I was feeling a little famished by lunch time. Since I had eaten Zanzibari food all week, I wanted to treat myself to something more familiar and set my heart on pizza. The Mercury Restaurant had a whole variety of pizzas on their menu and I settled on a chipolata which was beef sausage, mushroom, tomato and mozzarella. Well I don’t think I have ever had such a tasteless pizza! I put salt, pepper and even chilli sauce on it to make it taste of something! It was nice though to sit and watch the ferry getting ready to go to Dar es Salaam with a boat load of tourists but that was the only nice thing.

One of the ferries that motors back and forth between Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar

The little boats that take tourists on day trips to Prison Island

The afternoon disappeared in a bout of laziness as I finished off a book I had started a while ago. This evening I will go to a restaurant quite near my hotel called Monsoon. I saw that they definitely have vegetarian options on their menu and they are reasonably priced. Maybe my craving for veggies will be satisfied tonight J.

It is my last night in Zanzibar tonight as I fly to Mombasa tomorrow at lunch time. I’m not sure of Internet access yet so maybe there will be no blog until Monday but I will see what I can sort out when I arrive  in Kenya tomorrow. Have a good night and take care.