Grand Africa Cruise - Zanzibar Day 2

Cruise Day 35

Sunday, November 13, 2022

“Never let your memories be greater than your dreams.”  -- Douglas Ivester

Today is our second day in Zanzibar and our plans depended on how Val’s back felt.  We slept in and didn’t get up until around 9:00.  After our usual breakfast in the Neptune Lounge, we debated whether to stay on the ship and give Val’s back a day of rest or to go ashore, but ultimately it would be her decision.  Around 10:00 she said she really wanted to visit Stone Town so the decision was made and we got our things together and headed for the tenders.

We had just gotten off the ship tender and were headed for the shuttle.

Since it was already mid-morning when we got to the tender, there was hardly anyone there, and we got right on.  The ship had a shuttle that would take us from the terminal to Kelele Square in Stone Town.  After getting off the tender and making our way to the shuttle, we found it was almost full, but we squeezed in and were on our way.  After being dropped off, we started to wander off into the alleys of Stone Town.

A map of Zanzibar City.  The red starred marker near the top is where the ship is anchored and the red starred marker near the bottom left is Kelele Square.  Stone Town is the are area to the right of Kelele Square.

Stone Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the historical old city area of Zanzibar City.  From Wikepedia - "The heart of Stone Town mostly consists of a maze of narrow alleys lined by houses, shops, bazaars and mosques. Since most streets are too narrow for cars, the town is crowded with bicycles and motorbikes. The seafront has wider streets and larger, more regularly placed buildings."

We wandered for a bit not knowing where we were going, so Val finally asked someone where the shops were, and he graciously led us out of the alleys into a shopping area.  We wandered around a bit, looking in some of the shops, but mostly just taking in the atmosphere.  The roads were narrow and there was the occasional motorbike, but not nearly as chaotic as the souks of Marrakech and even though all the shopkeepers wanted us to visit their shops, they weren’t nearly as aggressive.

I did find a t-shirt to add to my collection and Val bought some presents for friends, but we mostly just looked around.  Even though the heat wasn’t too bad, the humidity was and we didn’t want to tax Val’s back any more than necessary so we started to wander back to the shuttle pick up spot.  Val did have one more place to stop though, and that was a jewelry store that was selling things made of Tanzanite stone.  Tanzanite is a gemstone found only in Tanzania.  She found a very nice necklace and negotiated a good price and she had something for herself.

We got right on the shuttle back to the terminal and to a waiting tender and we were soon back on the ship.  It was after one when we got back so we headed off to lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing.  With four busy port days in a row, I had fallen behind on the blog, so I starting catching up on that.

We're on the tender and on our way back to the ship.  I was lucky enough to grab a seat next to an open hatch so I could take pictures and enjoy a cooling breeze.

This is what it's like inside the tender.  Pretty tight quarters although it isn't very crowded on this trip.  It also gets quite stuffy inside as there isn't much ventilation.

Taken from the tender.

We were due to sail away at 5:00, so we decided to go up on the Lido Deck and watch us leave Zanzibar.  We got ourselves a couple of “unleaded” margaritas and enjoyed the balmy evening as the ship prepared to get underway.  The last tender arrived from shore and unloaded and we were ready to go.  We stayed out quite a while until we had sailed away south toward our next port.

There weren't too many people out for the sail away, but it was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed it.

The area to the right where all the people are on the beach is Stone Town.  Every evening the beach is a gathering spot with food trucks providing food and drink.

When we got back to our room it was almost time for dinner, so we got ready and headed off to the dining room.  By the time we finished, the casino had opened and after a few days off we tried our luck.  Val did pretty well, but I didn’t so I hung around to watch Val play until she was done.

After the casino, we went back to the room for a little relaxing before calling it a night.  Tomorrow is a welcome sea day after four straight days of ports.