A Day in Dakar - December 8
The last time I was in Senegal, I did a tour of Goree Island famous for being the last place in Africa thousands of slaves would ever see. Since I saw nothing of the city, I decided to do the 4.5 hour "Highlights of Dakar" tour.
I woke up to a little less pain in my leg than the last few days which was a blessing. Since my tour was not due back until 2:30, I had two pancakes (which actually became 1.5 since one side of one pancake was overdone and I cut it off). I met Judy (doctor's mom - are you having trouble keeping up with all the Judys?) in the World Stage so we could be on the same bus.
We started with a panoramic ride around the city seeing the Presidential Palace (Dakar is the capital city), Place de l'Independence, the railroad station, and numerous government buildings. We then had time to visit the Roman Catholic Cathedral that was very modern inside.
Street after street of small stalls or items just laid out on the sidewalk were passed on our way to the sand painting demonstration and bathroom stop. A number of people purchased items (I bought one back in 2018). After that we headed out of town to the African Renaissance Monument. This is the tallest free-standing statue in Africa at 171 feet. It is controversial in part because of its cost and it was built by a North Korean company. We also saw the Marmelles Lighthouse built in 1864 and the Mosque of the Divinity on the way back into the city.
Our last stop was at the Artisan's Market where Judy and I did a little shopping and met a number of cute kitties. It took about an hour to get back to the ship because of the traffic so our tour ended up being six hours.
I was wiped out (and my leg was really hurting) so I had a Coke Zero and then got ready for dinner with Judy (Lee) and Rich in the Pinnacle Grill. As a 5* Mariner, I get two free meals in the Pinnacle per cruise. The meal was delicious and I will post pictures tomorrow.
There was no show (another movie instead) and we gain back another hour tonight. This was our last port on the African mainland and we have one sea day before getting to Cape Verde.
Smooth sailing until next time!
Sorry for the quality of my bus pictures. The windows were grimy.
Street Scenes
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