After we finished our Safari we headed to Stone Town on Zanzibar. We figured we would take in some of the culture of the island before heading to the beach. Stone town was once part of the spice trade as well as the slave trade during the 19th century and because of this has a lot of history in its architecture and daily life. As we walked through the streets we saw the Middle Eastern influence as well as the Indian influence in the architecture, call to prayer, cuisine, dress and overall culture. It made for a nice walking town, although we didn’t feel like we were in Africa as we walked through town we enjoyed the feel. The walk through town was more of a walk through narrow alley ways filled with houses, shops, markets that would quickly change with every turn only to eventually kick us out far from where we thought we were headed. The alley were like a treasure hunt where we discovered the traditional doors that are heavily decorated with intricate carvings. We also checked out the fort but were unable to visit the house of wonders as it was under restoration.

 In addition to walking around we did some shopping for souvenirs and drank some delicious coffee. The more we travel the more I realize that there are far more ways to drink coffee than just milk and sugar. In Zanzibar they spiced it with cloves, cardamom and cinnamon to make it spicy in a masala manner. 

After a few days in Stone Town we headed to the beach the one regret I had was not taking a picture of Freddy Mercury’s house, which we walked by a few different times and I kept thinking I’ll take a picture next time. I had no idea that he was born in Stone Town.