Adventures in Africa: Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania

I woke up in Stone Town today, and enjoyed navigating the streets in the quiet of the morning before most of my fellow tourists joined me. I did surreptitiously photograph a few locals, who it seemed to me could have belonged to the streets of Stone Town in any of the preceding centuries.

By the way, Stone Town was where Freddie Mercury was born and there is a Freddie Mercury museum in what was his family's home.

Past the Freddie Mercury museum I found my destination, Karafuu Coffee House, on the second floor of a wonderfully restored building. 

I had it to myself when I arrived just after 8:00.

They certainly serve aesthetically pleasing coffee.

After my coffee I walked over to the post office and found the "foreign letters" mail box to drop a postcard in.

Then, I returned to my hotel to eat breakfast and pack, before going out for a final Stone Town walk. 

I imagine you could walk the Stone Town streets for days and consistently find interesting things to look at. For example, these hides appear to be hung to dry!

My walk included another coffee stop, this time at the Zanzibar Coffee House, which is both a hotel and a coffee shop. Again, the aesthetic is great.

The Zanzibar Coffee House has a patio on the roof with great views over Stone Town below.

At 10:15 it was time to head to the airport, so I retrieved my bag from the hotel and walked down to the waterfront to wait for my taxi.

Adventures in Africa: Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania

This morning I took a short light from Kilimanjaro airport to Zanzibar. I flew this Precision Air ATR 72

My taxi dropped me off close to my hotel in Stone Town and I was super impressed to have this view as I got out of the car!

Originally I was supposed to have two nights in Zanzibar, but Precision Air changed my itinerary for my departure, so I will just have one night here and leave around noon tomorrow.

My guesthouse seems nice enough with a $34 USD room on the top floor . . .

. . . where there is also a common area and breakfast dining room with a nice open air view.

I settled in briefly then headed out to explore a little bit and get some lunch. I have learned that the Arabic "medina" (which actually translates to "city") is only used in North Africa to describe the old, maze-like city centres, the first of which I remember visiting being in Fez, Morocco; so, technically I was not walking through a medina, but it sure felt similar.

The streets were relatively quiet, presumably because it was approaching the hot part of the day. I reached the beachfront Travellers Cafe at 12:30

The view was idyllic from my table . . .

. . . and the coconut curry fish delicious.

I sat at the cafe for a long time, enjoying the view, the lunch, and my book. But, at some point I decided I should carry on, so I headed back out into what was still a very quiet Stone Town.

But, actually, I maybe only walked for about ten minutes, because I ended up at Puzzle Coffee Shop, where I ducked in to order a coffee and lounge in the well-restored seating area. The sun, humidity, and 32 degree weather likely all contributed to my desire to sit in a lovely room with air conditioning and an iced coffee, even after just ten minutes of walking.

After coffee I worked my way back to my guesthouse, passing many of the impressive doors Zanzibar is famous for. Here are just a few.

I bought a few souvenirs along the way, as well, and dropped these at my room, and then I set out on a bit of a more intentional walking tour. My first destination was the souk, but of course the whole winding route was quite interesting.

There were many more people around as I neared the souk . . .

. . . although the meat sellers were relatively quiet. 

I do not know what the man below is preparing--some sort of oil, I believe--but I found the technique interesting and the fact that he was barefoot amusing. 

From the souk my route took me past the Christ Church cathedral and the East Africa Slave Trade Exhibition, neither of which I apparently photographed, and in the end an entry fee deterred me from pursuing those sites further. So, I carried on through more interesting alleys . . .

. . . until I reached the fort. The fort is closed, for some reason, but I was finding my walk quite enjoyable and I was not terribly upset. 

I crossed over to the Forodhani Gardens, where now many people were gathering as the evening was approaching and the day (finally) cooling off.

I sat in the park for a little bit, and then decided it was still too hot, so I went down the block to a nice hotel called Tembo House, and found a lovely spot to enjoy a cold drink and a snack.

For dinner, I realized I had enjoyed the Travellers Cafe so much I wanted to go back, so I headed over and watched the sun set. The beach, which had been virtually deserted at midday was packed now!

I ended my evening with more walking, including through a bustling section of seafront where there were many interesting food and beverage vendors.