23 MAY 2010 - DAKAR, SENEGAL - THE LAST STOP IN WEST AFRICA

There are a couple of different seasoned cruisers who arranged small group private tours for some of the stops, and fortunately for us we were able to join in on their group today in Dakar. Dakar is the largest and most developed of the five West African cities we have visited. A large, air conditioned bus picked us up at 8 AM, and drove us into the city where we stopped for a photo op with the guard at the palace.







We proceeded onto the pier where we got on the ferry to take us to Goree Island.























































Goree Island was one of the places where slaves were taken to await passage to the Americas. It is a beautiful little island, and it is incomprehensible to my mind to try to imagine the horrors that once existed here.









































































































We spent three hours walking around, with one stop at the actual slave house.









































“If all the sky were paper and all the seas ink, I would not be able to describe the brutality of the slave trade.” W. Bosman, 1701














































We walked to the top of a hill that had a beautiful lookout along with some old cannons.






The hawkers never stopped leaving us alone, trying to sell bracelets, necklaces, clothing, and carvings. I did buy a small statuette of an African lady that will go on our mantel.

After taking the ferry back to Dakar, the air conditioned bus was a bit of heaven. It took us north along the coast to a restaurant where we had lunch. The interesting thing about the restaurant was it had a swimming pool for customers to swim in. There were lots of kids using it, but only a few adults.





















































Senegal has a beautiful coast line. We stopped at a huge sculpture honoring the West African Renaissance. Some of us walked up the 200+ steps. It is a magnificent sculpture.
























It had a beautiful view of Dakar.





The tour included a stop at the Dakar market, but several of the women got together and told the guide they had been to enough markets, so they brought us back to the ship. The heat really drains you, and Jim and I decided to take a day off from exercising. The ship was supposed to leave at 6 PM, but it had to refuel, and the fueling dock is separate from the passenger dock, so at six the ship moved over to the fueling dock, and when I went to bed at 10:30 we still had not left.