The Spice Islands - Part I

Kolz and I are now in Blighty, getting back down to business (me) and relaxing (him) after L & J's wonderful wedding. Since leaving Berlin, and then Dar, access has again been a bit difficult, but we've got a wireless hotspot to the tune of 2 coffee drinks, and can hopefully catch up a bit.

I sort of fell in love with Stone Town, like I fell in love with Berlin. It's an amazing, multi-layered city...just looking up gives you another view of life and the rhythm of things. Storefronts and shops on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors, with ornate grates and balconies. Surprising little splashes of pastel colors among very weathered old buildings, unexpected passageways.

The markets in Zanzibar were also amazing - fruit we'd never seen before and spices and fish. Since I completely geeked out over the spices and fruit and fish, I'll start off with those photos.

The central market in Zanzibar is an amazing complex of rooms and stalls, packed in under a low, gabled roof. To one side is fish, and a fish auction, and the other side is meat. Walking past those two wings, you come to the fruit and vegetable sellers - much nicer to breathe out there, and what exotics! We tried a mangostine, which apparently grows only on Zanzibar, and saw the biggest grapefruits EVER. As well as piles of spices, beans and lentils, melons, hot peppers, sweet peppers, everything. Our guide hadn't asked we were foodies, or cared to see the market, but we spent an amazing hour just wandering around.

After my experience in Germany with food poisoning, I was at first pretty wary of eating anything too exotic (or, unfortunately, fresh). Zanzibar and Stone Town made both Kolz and I forget about that. Everything was so fresh and well-cared-for, we worried much less. When you see the octopus being pulled off of a boat, and then being sold quickly at the market, you worry a lot less about whether you should eat it at the open-air night market down by the water...



So, here, a mangostine. You just eat the white pulp from around the seeds, and it's very sweet and light.



Another odd fruit that we can't remember the name of, monster lychees, and bananas.



The spice market, which we got to through a tiny passageway from the fruit market where only one person at a time could walk. The pile in the middle is fresh cinnamon bark.



We also went on a spice tour, to a government-owned plantation 15 miles outside of Stone Town. Our guides gave us a banana-leave cup to put all of the spice cuttings and pieces into. Here, the packet has a ylang-ylang flower and some crushed leaves from clove and cinnamon trees. We bought some spices here, and my suitcase smells amazing...