22nd - 30th Nov 2020
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| A ghostly dhow in the evening mist (or my lens had fogged over). |
As promised in the previous, I will show you some other of my favoured watering holes. This may come in handy if you, like many, decide to escape the purgatory in lockdown Europe (or anywhere else) and enjoy freedom here.
First up, the Livingstone Bar and restaurant (left). This is in what was the 19th century British Consulate. It is situated on the beach at the Old Harbour, south of the New Harbour.
Right: My type of bar. No arsing about with fancy decoration, and reasonable prices. You can see the very Grand staircase at the back, a vestige of its British colonial past. It leads up to a large verandah and restaurant. There is a microphone and drum kit at the bottom of the stairs so maybe it gets a bit noisy on some evening.
The rather more upmarket and slightly more expensive 'North @ 6º South' restaurant and bar overlooking the beach near the Travellers' Café. Left: The rooftop bar which opens at 5.00pm. Despite the evidence of this photo it does get busy in the evenings. It also accepts credit cards with no % add-on. A rarety in this town. It has a good menu and excellent WiFi. It hosts 'events' in the restaurant downstairs.
Right: Adjacent to this place is the four storey 'Tatu' emporium. There is a lot of climbing steep stairs involved in these places as roof-top bars and eateries are popular (as at breakfast in Bottoms Up) and lifts are scarce. The 1st floor bar here features a pool table. I enjoyed playing pool with a few old cronies in my home town (until all the pubs were closed down, again).
Unlike in British pubs, here it was free to play. A local was interested in a game or two so I accepted his challenge. Fortunately we both knew and played to the same rules. I am no great pool player but won 2-1. Left: Celebrating my victory in typically modest style.
Right: The Travellers' Café. I may have shown similar photo before. Another beachside hostelry. A lovely place for a drink and food and seems to be a gathering point for 'escapees' from various countries. As with all the other places, a delightful staff. Here they are all cheerful girls. An irritant here is that they issue tickets for WiFi, as many as you want, but each lasts only 30mins and then you have to re-enter the next code. Can't think why they do it.
Left: Mama Mia ice-cream parlour with the delighful Italian proprietor, Sara, and two of her staff. I was a regular visitor to buy one of the little tub ice-creams. There was a large array of flavours to choose from. Delicious.
I have an important announcement to make here. Belatedly, I was given a card which they stamped every time you bought an ice. After 9 stamps you get a free ice-cream. I have a card with 9 stamps and didn't claim my freeby. SO, if anyone reading this decides to go to Zanzibar I can send them the card...they will get the free ice-cream.
I took a wander around the southern end of town, away from the central maze. I passed the Zanzibar Natural History Museum (right); not quite on a par with the version on the Cromwell Road in London. It had a rather sorry looking little model elephant in a cage outside. I resisted the temptation to go in.
Nearby in this rather elegant building (left) is the Zanzibar History museum I think it may have been closed. Apparently it contains relics from the Sultanates, but I'd seen enough of those in the Palace Museum described earlier.
There is a large area containing many various sports pitches, such as volleyball, basketball, and, of course, football; all of which were in a run down and shoddy state.
They obviously flooded during the rainy periods such as this football pitch (right). Apparently it contained fresh water fish and could presumably host water polo matches. Someone had left their motorbike in the goalmouth.
Left: The Zanzibar Weightlifting Association HQ. I peered through the windows at some dusty ramshackle excercise machines and a few dumbells. I'm not sure I could be persuaded to join....just yet.
Right: Another popular entertainment was jumping off the quayside near the pavilion on Forodhani Gardens. This was performed with much enthusiasm, little elegance and a big splash.
Left: Adding to a previous photo of the Forodhani Gardens next to the Old Fort is one of this defunct fountain. At least I assume it is defunct.
The interesting thing about it, and other garden accoutrements, is that they were built by public subscription to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of a Sultan and the gardens were laid out to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V on 6th May 1935. Click on to enlarge and read.
Left: A curious 'badge' above one of the gates into the Old Fort. It looks quite old, on recent cement, and the motto reads 'Girl Guides'. Maybe there is a 'Boy Scouts' one at the other end but I didn't see it. Curious because it is written in English, so obviously British, but I can't imagine Girls Guides in these parts. I expect my assiduous research team will come up with some explanation. As always.
Right: More tourists. The numbers are beginning to increase but still much below normal, which is fine by me although not good for the locals.
....and finally yet another photo of a bleedin' dhow. They are beginning to feature rather too often but for some reason are very photogenic things.
These blogs are running a bit behind the actual date....so still more to come, and it helps to pass the time!
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