This morning we explored the labyrinthine city, which reflects architecture and layout from it’s long history as a hub of trade between Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and India. We started at the House of Wonders, which is filled with old relics from the sultanate, which moved court here from Oman in the 1840s. Outside it was hot and humid but the interior was cool and breezy, the building doing an admirable job of funneling air through the sitting rooms. It wasn’t hard to imagine a sultan and his harem spending their days whiling away on the plush couches. We had an early lunch at Mercury’s, which tries to cash in on the Queen mystique with a beach-front location and live music.
Lunch at Mercury’s
Staircases in the palace museum
After lunch we wandered through Hurumzi market, stopping to see an old hammam that’s well preserved but sadly non-functional. We passed through Jaws Corner, where five streets meet by a mural of the famous shark. We eventually emerged on the other side of the town at the Anglican cathedral, which was the site of last open slave market in East Africa, close in 1873. The actual site was destroyed, but the holding quarters below the building are preserved in eerie shadow. It’s not hard to imagine a hundred men and women crammed into the stone pen, with only one window for light and a nothing but a trench on the floor for waste.
Slave holding chambers
The cathedral’s altar was built at the site of the whipping post, a very literal reminder of the role of the church in abolition. They also have a crucifix made of a piece of tree taken from where Dr David Livingstone died, and his heart was buried. Outside, there is a modern commemorative statue, giving faces to the untold millions of victims of the terrible trade.
Slave market memorial
Anglican Church
A little exhausted by the morning, we had a late lunch in an air conditioned restaurant Lulu, where I had the biggest crab of my life. The afternoon called for a refreshing swim and nap in the heat of the day. We had dinner at Forodhani gardens in the open air market filled with stalls selling fresh seafood and pressed cane juice.
Enormous crab
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