Mombasa

We took a taxi from the beach to our hotel in Mombasa at around 2:30 in the afternoon. It rained while we were in the car but stopped by the time we reached our destination, the Castle Royal Hotel. It was nice. A step up from the Twiga Lodge for about the same price. I would definitely stay here again if I ever return. We had reservations for a dinner cruise on the Bay that evening, so we decided to relax at the hotel until our transport was scheduled to arrive. We had masala chai in the hotel cafe. It was really tasty.

Meredith and Stephanie enjoying their chai

Our transport for dinner arrived at 6:30PM and took us to the Tamarind Restaurant from where our dinner cruise would depart.

The Tamarind Dhow and the beautiful sunset we witnessed while waiting to board

The call to prayer. It is Ramadan, so we saw all of the preparations on the streets of Mombasa for the evening feast on our way to our dinner cruise.

It really was a spectacular sunset

Meredith and Stephanie at our table. This is after we enjoyed the most yummy pre-dinner cocktails called Dawas. It was made of vodka, lime, honey, mint, tonic, and ice. I hope I can get the proportions right at home, it was so tasty. I wish I had gotten a photo of it.

The main course. We all got different things and shared. Stephanie ordered the seafood medley (it had a fancier name than this but I can't remember it, I also can't remember what all was in it). I do remember that it had a peanut flavored sauce. It was really good.

Meredith got the prawns, also really good.

And I got the lobster - yum! The entire meal was delicious. It also included an appetizer, seafood salad and asparagus salad, soup (I got the tomato, Stephanie and Meredith got mushroom), desert (cheesecake and fruit salad), and coffee. We also got a bottle of wine to go with our meal.

The boat was largely filled with couples and people on their honeymoons, but we ended up sitting next to two South African women, Patricia and Hilda. They were both fairly toasted and were quite funny. Patricia offered us all a place to stay if we find ourselves visiting Durbin in the next couple of years, after that she is planning to open a hotel and pub in Zanzibar. We've got her card, but given her level of intoxication, I highly doubt she will remember us and her offer. The entire evening was wonderful. They even had a live band on the boat. I would totally do this again if I ever return and I highly recommend it to others.

The following morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then set out by foot to follow the walking tour in the Lonely Planet through the old part of Mombasa. The walking tour starts and ends at Fort Jesus (built by the Portuguese). We were going to start our tour by taking a tour of the Fort, but we found ourselves being harassed by someone trying to be our tour guide despite our continued comments that we did not want a tour guide and that we were not going to pay him. We were able to ditch him near the entrance; however, it was rather short lived. We opted to do the walking tour first and then check out the fort but stopped in a shop shortly into the walk. When we emerged, he was there. I really hate to be rude, but I found myself yelling go away at him. He called us names and finally left us alone. We were glad to be rid of him.

We spent several hours wandering through the streets. The colors and the ornamentation on the buildings was beautiful. I found myself taking a lot of pictures of doors and ally ways.

For all of my triathlon friends... Talk about a destination race.

Once we finished our wandering, we were able to go into Fort Jesus harassment free. We were even able to get the resident rate with our embassy cards, a difference of 700 shillings. We were greeted by someone who became our guide once we entered. He was very friendly and not aggressive in any way. We were glad to have a guide, and even happier it wasn't the guy from earlier.

We had to end our tour a bit early so that we would have enough time to grab some lunch at the hotel and get to the airport in time. We decided to take a tuk tuk back to save time.

When I had booked my ticket, the flight that Stephanie and Meredith were on was no longer available, so I was on a later flight. I was hoping that I would be able to get a seat on their flight, but it was sold out and everyone showed up. I was able to get on the next flight, which saved me an hour from my original flight. I was home by 9:30 and "quickly" did a load of laundry in the bath tub. I didn't bring many clothes with me and had taken a lot of them with me Mombasa. Between the salt water from the beach and the dust in Mombasa, they were dirty! Since I was scheduled to take off again on Tuesday for Kisumu, I needed clean clothes in a hurry. Having a washing machine handy is one thing I really miss.