Thurs 20th. After bfast we walked down to the ferry. Drizzling. Seemed to be waiting in 1st class but everyone got on board at the same time it seems. I walked around a bit to take pics and stretch my legs…otherwise only an hour and three quarters to Zanzibar. On arrival had to fill in a landing card and get our passports stamped. Rain had stopped and put Mark into a bajaj to go to his hotel.
Took me nearly an hour to find Aurelia Htl…but I wasn’t in a hurry. The bathroom door didn’t open. Waited an hour for locksmith to try lots of keys. In the end I was offered another room one floor up. Exactly the same with a balcony. Went walkabout before ending up at Patamu. A Polish lady singing provided us with some entertainment. On way back I had calamari and octopus dipped in chili sauce for 2,000.
21st – 25th. I’m going to lump all the days together as it’s been a matter of chilling for the 5 days since our arrival. My room is great, although I can never seem to operate the AC properly and end up getting too cold in the middle of the night. A sheet cover seems to do the trick. Breakfast is really good. Mark moved in from his hotel to Aurelia (mine) for our last 2 days and I got him the same preferential rate of 60,000 ( about 21gbp incl Bfast). Very happy with my rate as I’ve seen other guests paying 75,000 or 80,000.
Otherwise, there’s been a lot of walking around Stone Town….getting lost much of the time….but a lot of variety/interest in the myriad of narrow streets. Being around for Ramadan was interesting, and in particular the party atmosphere of Eid. Very busy on the waterfront this evening; I didn’t realise that Eid consisted of 4 days of partying/celebration. Men and women buy new outfits and the ladies in particular were looking very smart indeed. The men only have an all white kanzu to wear. Plus hat of course.
One morning we stopped at the Mizingani Htl on the waterfront, for a tamarind juice on their 1st floor balcony …Nice views. Yesterday we met up with Jinx and Mindy for drinks at the Spice Hotel bar on the top floor…views of rooftops and the Catholic Church. Actually I was there briefly a couple of days earlier and got to see quite a nice sunset. I saw another sunset from Forodhani when walking back to my hotel.
Am currently relaxing on the beach. There is plenty of sand and enough beach to relax on, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. And the water looks clear enough to swim in; I won’t take the plunge this time but definitely next time I pass through. I wrote that earlier …and I lied…I did go for a swim…very pleasant.
As for food…am eating from street food stalls. Not only very delicious but saves a lot of money as well. Have had Rojo 4 times now. A tasty bowl of soup which contains potatoes, hard boiled egg, salad, little bits of meat, and a couple of bajias. A bowl costs 2,000tsh , or about 70pence. Have eaten the calamari and octopus twice…you use a toothpick to skewer the meat then dip it in a nice spicy sauce. It costs 500tsh per piece; the most I had was 6 of them for 3,000, so dinner cost me just over 1gbp..1 pound. This evening I had something called njugu mawe… or rocks nuts…doesn’t make sense as they were akin to chicken peas. Either way, it was a sweetish dish (with a pancake) and I didn’t enjoy it particularly. It filled a gap. On the way back to the hotel I snacked on a few pieces of squid/octopus in chili sauce.
OK, I love Zanzibar. Stone Town is made up of lots of narrow streets which lead down to the waterfront. Motorbikes are a bit of a menace, but no donkeys…unlike Lamu. Patamu is my favourite pub, for the 5,000tsh for a beer. Even though that’s twice as much as on the mainland, it’s still only 1 pound and 75 pence. Actually, Spice Hotel has a happy hour at 4,000 per beer.The walk along the waterfront lined by palm trees is a pleasure. The harbour is full of boats with fun names. Serenity, Blue Wave, Italy, Jambo, Remember….There are interesting buildings, lots of curio shops selling everything from trinkets to large paintings to wooden carvings and clothing accessories. The shopkeepers and street salespersons in general are not too pushy. I guess it helps that I speak Swahili ?
This morning we booked our Azam ferry tickets at 35usd or 84,000tsh back to Dar tomorrow for one night. A wonderful 6 days, and having got used to how things operate around here I would like to explore more of the Island next time.