Zanzibar, day 9: return to Stone Town

Woke up before dawn... AGAIN... but since it was our last morning in Bwejuu we got up, grabbed our cameras, and went down to the beach for sunrise.

The tide was quite high and the beach was deserted -- so lovely and quiet!

It was so beautiful we went for a short walk -- this might be the last time we feel this powdered-sugar sand under our toes!

 

But eventually we had to go back to the JUNGALOW and get ready to leave. 

I wish we had gone looking for one of these old brass hasps -- I don't know where we would have used it, but they sure are gorgeous.

We showered and packed up our things and said goodbye to our lovely jungle bungalow -- it really had been the perfect place for us to stay!

Though, to be honest, these stairs always unnerved me a bit...

We had breakfast with Richard and Katie and had a nice chat -- they're really good people. I hope our paths cross again!

Then all too soon it was time to go -- Abdul arrived, right on time, and swept us off to Stone Town. We walked in to Emerson Spice like old friends  -- and shown to our new room, Desdemona, on the top floor. 

Where Semele was all scarlets, Desdemona is teals and purples... and complete with an extra day bed.

   

Rather than lounge chairs, this room had dining chairs -- I loved the silver-painted finish on two of them.

We also had a view down into the Secret Garden from our twin Juliet balconies ... which made me feel funny when I stood on them.

In addition, we had a tiny little terrace just off the bathroom. Sadly, not large enough for two people to sit on it -- but still a lovely spot.

And from the side windows we had a view of the rooftop teahouse at Emerson on Harumzi.

I think of the two rooms we preferred Semele, but Desdemona is gorgeous. I also admit that I was actually hoping we'd get put into Siti (the one we had booked) or Turandot, as both looked like little jewel boxes when we peeked into them. 

We dropped off our things, rearranged our bags a bit, and set out for a long, swirling, spiraling walk around a lot of parts of Stone Town we had never glimpsed before. We did see some fun graffiti:

The famous "Liverpool F.C. Scoreboard" painted on a wall in the middle of the old town:

And I admired the handsome sewer covers:

We napped in the hottest part of the day -- essential, as always, then went back out for a more structured walk. I bought a lot of kanga fabric and Wil bought some bracelets at the "Memories of Zanzibar" store. I had that weird moment of seeing things for so much cheaper than elsewhere... and with no haggling. (I really hate haggling.)

We also went looking for the Kwality Supermarket again ... and failed again. Not sure how we keep missing it, but clearly we are heading in the wrong direction. But we did wander around the market on the way back to Emerson Spice, and passed through Jaws Corner again.

We dropped of our things and headed up to the roof for a sundowner, where we enjoyed a pair of very delicious dawas and our last African sunset.  

We drank up and headed out on the town, where we picked a friendly vendor and had two "Zanzibar Pizzas" -- mine was cheese and tomato with an egg for TSh 4000. Wil's had cheese, mushroom, and no egg for TSh 5000. Who won? WIFE. (We suspect that, since the mushrooms were tinned, they were actually more expensive than the ingredients in mine.)

The night market was bustling, with lots of people, vendors, and cats. So we headed back to Emerson Spice. We considered a drink in the Secret Garden, but were both weirdly tired, so we just went upstairs and relaxed in the lovely, cool room.

We're essentially packed-- well, apart from our toiletries and, hopefully, a new set of hammam towels!