Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana

Ghana! Another new country for us so we once again took an Oceania excursion. This time we had a three-bus convoy and a police car escort.

Sekondi-Takoradi are twin cities. Both the Dutch and British settled in Sekondi and it flourished as a port in the early 1900s when the railroad connected it to the gold mines in the country’s interior. But its port became commercially obsolete with the opening of the harbour in Takoradi in 1928. Sekondi and Takoradi became one city in 1963.

Our tour took us on a panoramic drive past many sights and then to a huge fish market and a performance of traditional Ghanaian songs and dances. The fish market was incredible! So much colour and chaos.

We got back to the ship at 12:30 pm and hopped right onto the shuttle bus to “Market Circle,” a huge market that’s currently being redeveloped. The vendors from the market have spilled onto the streets making it a fun shopping experience. We had learned from our excellent tour guide that cocoa is Ghana’s number one industry and our mission was to find Ghanaian chocolate 🍫.

We went to a grocery store and they only sold Nestle brand. 🥲 We asked the cashiers where to find local chocolate and they sent us to “You 84,“ a competing store. We set off in the direction they sent us but wanted to confirm we were headed in the right direction. We saw a few women chatting on a corner and one of them immediately confirmed we could buy local chocolate at You 84 and pulled a chocolate bar out of her purse to show us what to look for. She then said she wanted someone to walk us there and stopped two random young girls selling wares from bowls carried on their heads to take us there. They did. A perfect anecdote of how lovely we found Ghanaians.Read more