A grey day

Today was my only day to be a tourist in Stonetown and it started off slowly. While I was having breakfast, thunder started rumbling ominously and got progressively louder. By 8:00 the heavens opened and the rain poured down for an hour and a half. As soon as it started to slack off I decided to chance that the rain was over and headed out to have a look around to town. It was a good idea and while the clouds stayed all day and there was the odd rumble from them there was no more rain. The downside of the rain was that the roads were muddy and there were puddles of dirty water everywhere. So between having to walk through some muddiness and getting sprayed a bit by passing cars, motorbikes and cyclists, my feet and shoes ended up very dirty.

My friend Elinor requested photos of the famous doors of Zanzibar so my first mission was to find some of the nicer ones. These are of course found on the entrances to the more expensive hotels and restaurants but there are some nice ones on the government buildings too. So below is a small collection of some of the doors I encountered today.

Zanzibari doors

I decided to visit the Anglican cathedral that is built on the site of the old slave market. It cost TSh5000 ($3 or R35) to go in and apparently included a guided tour. I opted not to take the tour but just to look around. I have read about this market so really just wanted to see what was there. All it is though is a very run down church and a sculpture of slaves in a pit. I hope they will use the entrance fee to do some work on the cathedral at some stage because it is in a bad state of disrepair.

 The Anglican Cathedral

 Inside the cathrdral

 A window

 A stained glass window in need of repair

 The back of the cathedral

The memorial to the slaves 

From the cathedral I went to the market. I could smell the fish section from about 200m from the entrance! I took a deep breath and went in. The fish looked very fresh but the smell is so overpowering that the thought of actually eating anything from there is quite horrible. This time I also ventured into the meat market. Previously I have avoided this section because I live on meat if I eat out and didn’t want to be put off by what I smelt and saw in the market. I was much braver this time, and once again took a deep breath before plunging in! It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined it would be. Sure it smelt bad but all the meat counters were clean and the meat looked fresh. It was mostly goat meat anyway so beef fillet is still on my menu!

I love wondering around the rabbit warren of Stonetown and after the market visit I plunged back into the maze and decided to try and find the hotel where Jo and I stayed in 1998. After many twists and turns I actually found it – by pure luck because I had no clue where to look for it J So Jo here is a picture especially for you (Sorry there is no Rashid lying in the entrance way … I know how devastated you will be at missing that very memorable sight LOL).

 Kokonis Hotel

The wandering around made me hungry so I decided it was time for some lunch and headed across to the other side of Stonetown to the Africa House Hotel and its Sunset Bar. Along the way I had to pass my own hotel and was quite disturbed when a guy on the side of the road just after the Abuso Inn asked me if I had lost my hotel and told me that it was just back there. Quite concerning since he had clearly seen me leave hours earlier and taken note! Maybe just my South African paranoia kicking in but I certainly don’t like it much. The view from the Sunset bar is wonderful but it has become expensive and the food is quite ordinary. I think next time I will only go there for the beer and the view. The food was really not even worth writing about. Below are some photos of the hotel entrance, the views from the deck, the elaborate hubbly bubbly room and just an ornate bit of furniture inside the hotel.

 Africa House Hotel

 The view from my table

 The view from the edge of the deck

 Hubbly bubbly room

All that glitters ....

After a little siesta to avoid the heat of the day, I ventured out again this time to find the beautiful twin spired St Joseph Cathedral. It eluded me though. I could see its spires from the distance but each time I tried to go through the maze to it I came out somewhere else completely. I have given up for the day now. It is a task for another time - maybe on my way back from work one day.

 St Joseph’s twin spires in the distance

So my day is winding down now at Mercury’s Restaurant where I am sipping on a Safari lager, writing the blog and waiting for the sunset. Amazing how the clouds have disappeared just in time J. Mercury’s is named after possibly Zanzibar’s most famous son, Freddy Mercury, who was born in Zanzibar. There are some really old photos of Freddie on the walls but mostly it is just a nice place on the beach to chill out.

 Mercury's Restaurant

 The view while writing the blog

Zanzibari sunset - worth the wait!

The tourist time is now done and tomorrow it is back to work for me. I hope that the Tanzanians are a bit more organised than last year but I will deal with whatever I have to deal with in the morning. Take care everyone, especially those getting drenched by Cyclone Irina!