{"id":141,"date":"2013-07-16T04:30:24","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T04:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelcake.site\/?p=141"},"modified":"2025-04-09T21:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T21:02:10","slug":"stone-town-street-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/stone-town-street-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"Stone Town Street Scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been two years since I was in Africa \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and I miss it.<\/span>
\n<\/span>The warm atmosphere, the infectious laughter in the streets, kids singing and dancing all throughout the day, the sweet taste of exotic fruits, the sun that gives you that healthy glow\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I even miss the pungent smell of sweaty African armpits \u00e2\u20ac\u201d or maybe not so much.<\/span>
\nIt’s a place I call home in some respects, it’s a place that makes me feel good and that lifts my spirits despite all the problems the continent is facing. Since I was feeling so nostalgic, I decided to share some photo’s of one of my favourite cities\/town in Africa: Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a stroll through the winding streets of the old town<\/p>\n

\"typical<\/a>
typical street<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You could consider the town a maze \u00e2\u20ac\u201d of houses, boutiques, dive centres, mosques, restaurants, bazaars… The streets are narrow and the architecture is a unique blend of African, Arab, Persian, Indian and European elements that come together in a remarkable, \u00c2\u00a0almost mystical way. I must add that most of the buildings are almost in ruins on the outside. I chose to consider it part of the charm.<\/p>\n

\"carvings<\/a>
carvings on the doors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Zanzibari<\/a>
Zanzibari door<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I must have taken over a hundred photos of doors. The detailing is just awe-inspiring.
\nShould I ever design a house, I would have the door imported from Zanzibar.
\nAnd no \u00e2\u20ac\u201d not just because that sounds cool!<\/p>\n

\"beautiful<\/a>
beautiful mulata<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"cheeky<\/a>
cheeky kid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another wonderful sight in Stone Town \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and across the island \u00e2\u20ac\u201d is the people.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Kids running through the streets, playing, laughing, batting their long, lush eyelashes at you\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the adults?<\/span>
\n<\/span>They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking their time, doing their thing, living the island life\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/span>Endesha pole pole<\/b>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Swahili for <\/span>go slowly.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"locals<\/a>
locals taking their time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"peek-a-boo\"<\/a>
peek-a-boo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


\nA walk through town is never complete without a visit to the market.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Honestly, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my favourite place in any destination to roam about.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"market<\/a>
market scene<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"rice-<\/a>
rice- take your pick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"sun<\/a>
sun dried octopuses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"fresh<\/a>
fresh marlin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are a couple of classic tourist attractions to visit \u00e2\u20ac\u201d<\/span><\/i> historical building and monuments\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/strong> but it all felt a bit forced to me. I did have a quick look at some of them, but I soon realised that I’m just not that kind of tourist\/traveler.
\nThere was one monument however, that really spoke to me.
\nThe slavery memorial<\/strong>, situated in the old slave market. Stone Town was one of the hot spots for spice and slave trade back in the day. The memorial doesn’t just remind us of these practices \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it shows how enslaved people were sold: standing in a ditch, connected with heavy chains. It’s hard to believe that was ever reality.<\/p>\n

\"former<\/a>
former slave market<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back to wondering the narrow streets… Luckily, Stone Town is relatively small, so even when you get lost, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re never too far from where you need to be. You can always <\/span>turn to a local for directions \u00e2\u20ac\u201d chances are you’re no more than 15minutes away from your destination.
\nOr \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and this is<\/span> even better option \u00e2\u20ac\u201d<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0take a coffee break.
\nCoffee production and consumption is an ancient Zanzibari tradition. <\/span>Try a cup of ‘Liberica’, a rich and spicy blend found only<\/em> on this island.
\nI have to say, this was one of the best cups of coffee I’ve ever had! Not to be missed!<\/p>\n

\"walking<\/a>
walking the streets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"coffee<\/a>
coffee break<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you’re ever in Zanzibar and want to try the Liberica,\u00c2\u00a0this<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0is a lovely place where you can have a few sips.<\/p>\n

When the sun starts to set in Stone Town, it’s not<\/em> time to go home yet. Sit on the beach to watch the sun go down, then keep walking until you reach the ‘ Forodhani Gardens’ \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a lively food market\/ open air restaurant that comes alive after dark. All sorts of skewered treats from the sea are presented to you, grilled on demand. Finish off with a glass of freshly made sugarcane juice with a squeeze of lemon. Pure bliss!<\/p>\n

\"dhows<\/a>
dhows at sunset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"fresh<\/a>
fresh sugar cane juice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"night<\/a>
night market<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I spent four days is Stone Town \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which is more than the average visitor \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but I never got bored. I took things easy, walked a lot, ate and drank like a Swahili queen. The whole island has offcially made it onto my return-list<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Have you ever been to Zanzibar? Did you like Stone Town?<\/h4>\n
\"sisters\"<\/a>
sisters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been two years since I was in Africa \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and I miss it. The warm atmosphere, the infectious laughter in the streets, kids singing and dancing all throughout the day, the sweet taste of exotic fruits, the sun that gives you that healthy glow\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I even miss the pungent smell of sweaty African armpits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,115],"tags":[110,27,25,26],"country":[201],"class_list":["post-141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-tanzania","tag-africa","tag-photo-essay","tag-tanzania","tag-zanzibar","post_format-post-format-gallery","country-tanzania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4315,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions\/4315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}