Desiree Koh:
From Precision Air flight PW433, I fell in love with Zanzibar. How do you not?
Desiree Koh:
Trust me, it gets a lot crazier down there. But it's also just as beautiful at eye level.
Desiree Koh:
My first mission in Zanzibar was to get a good Swahili meal. Up to this point, I felt like I hadn't had any real Tanzanian cuisine, and that's an abject shame. Monsoon is right by the shoreline of the Indian Ocean, but I chose to sit inside because it was
Desiree Koh:
I got the set lunch so I could try a little bit of a few things in smaller portions without killing myself. This appetizer of a calamari steamed with passionfruit and on a salad bed had me leaning back on cushions and going "aaahhh."
Desiree Koh:
The entree was octopus in coconut sauce with spice rice, aubergine masala, sweet mashed gingko nuts (a flash of genius), sweet potatoes, creamed spinach and chapati. While this wasn't all truly what people ate in Tanzania, it was what Zanzibaris ate - and
Desiree Koh:
A slice of sweet Swahili date cake with a light banana cream - the best dessert I had in a little two weeks in Tanzania.
Desiree Koh:
Having been colonized by the British, Portuguese and Omanis at one point or another, interiors in Zanzibar can get rather schizophrenic in the most adorable and appealing way. Wooden colonial-style furniture, rusting British tin cans, Arabic earth tones a
Desiree Koh:
The Old Fort was built circa 1700 on the site of a Portuguese chapel by the Omanis.
Desiree Koh:
Here's a plaque harkening back to the Old Fort's newer days.
Desiree Koh:
This might as well be a sign describing me.
Desiree Koh:
The Old Fort is now home to the Zanzibar Cultural Center, which hosts the Zanzibar International Film Festival, which happened to be running when I was there! It's too bad I wasn't able to catch a film.
Desiree Koh:
Beit El-Ajaib, the House of Wonders, is one of the most prominent buildings in Stone Town. Built in 1883 by Sultan Barghash, it's been hurt a few times by palace and political intrigue, but is not the Zanzibar National Museum of History & Culture.
Desiree Koh:
As you can see, opulence by Zanzibari standards isn't quite on the Versailles scale, but I loved the simplicity - and the common-sensical seaside architecture.
Desiree Koh:
A little bit Nawlins, a little bit Madeira...
Desiree Koh:
The dhow is one of Zanzibar's most touristed symbols, a traditional Arabic sailing vessel used mostly for transport. Of course, today also available for booze cruises.
Desiree Koh:
St. Joseph's Cathedral, one of the first sights you'll see if you sail into Stone Town, built in 1898.
Desiree Koh:
Beit El-Sahel served as the sultan's residence until 1964, when the dynasty was overthrown. It's now the palace museum.
Desiree Koh:
Again, very practical to withstand the heat and monsoons. In fact, this is one of the things I liked best about Stone Town. It's very unassuming, and goes about its business without taking anything for granted. It's stunning even in its simplicity, or per
Desiree Koh:
It might be a tourist town, but there's still work to be done on the waterfront.
Desiree Koh:
The Old Customs House.
Desiree Koh:
It's just the work, the work, it's just the working life.
Desiree Koh:
If it seemed hard to find a decent souvenir in all the places we'd been in Tanzania, it wasn't that much easier in Zanzibar. Not that there weren't any - Stone Town is flooded with cheap artifacts and hastily manufactured mementos.
Desiree Koh:
I love it. The narrow alleys sometimes made it impossible to tell what laid on the other side. The only way to find out? Squeeze through.
Desiree Koh:
Another significant Stone Town feature are heavy wooden doors, which often appear to be the only thing holding up these crumbling buildings. In fact, there are only a little more than 500 of these doors left, and many are older than the buildings they are
