Old Mombasa

To be honest, this city's rough: Sellers are aggressive, smells are abundant and strong, garbage everywhere, but that's not new... We stayed in our usual cheaper guesthouses, but this one actually felt like a neighbourhood wasn't one I would mess around at dark in... They mostly say not to be out anywhere in Kenya after dark, but I believe it here. I felt safer in Nairobi, which says a lot. That being said, I'm a smart girl. I keep my stuff close, stay polite, yet firm. That's what we've learnt so far. 

We got to Mombasa around 12pm from Watamu, just enough time to walk around old town, explore the old port, beautiful carved doors again, gorgeous balcony architecture... Crossing some people welcoming us, and some looking at us just creepily enough to make me keep walking. We got to the Fort Jesus, main attraction here, and spotted other tourists at the door. My goal was to ask if it was worth visiting, but they were just heading in with their own guide and invited us to tag along. Free guide! Entrance fees were 800 as per our lonely planet, which we thought was expensive, but getting to the gate they were actually 1200! Again, student cards save the day! They let us pay the "under 16" price of 600 instead. Score! 

The Fort was our first bit of true history on the country. We've seen cultural history, tribal history, but not the whole Portuguese coming in 15?? And Omanis taking over to then be over taken by the English or something along those lines... It's funny, during these tours, I'm super interested and curious, and the second I leave those gates I forget everything that was just said to me. But the Fort was cool! Lol. The doorways had a mix of Portuguese, Arabic, and Muslim carvings. And of course there's the obligatory clay pot museum that I sat outside to get a nice breeze. It's still brutally hot on the coast - averaging 34 C during the day and 27C at night. 

We didn't get to doing the spice market on the same day as the old town, so we set off to it in the morning before moving on to Diani beach. Turns out, we found a bunch of fantastic materials we plan to use for our hookah lounge / pillow pile! We have all these great plans for our apartment, the only thing missing is the actual apartment that won't happen for another 3 months... Lol. Successful morning! Read more