A very good day. I am really beginning to like this island.

Breakfast was the same as I am beginning to expect here: Bread though this time with Hot Chocolate (served with warm milk!). Quite nice in the small courtyard of the guesthouse.

We went off on our own directions after breakfast with my heading out to see a few of the actual sites of the island (there are only a few). I began with the IFAN Historical Museum at the Fort d'Estrées. I was the only one there as I made my way across the “draw bridge” into the enclosed area of the fort. Each of the small pie-piece shaped rooms around the building housed a different piece of the history of Senegal beginning with the very beginnings of life on earth. Of course, the displays were all in French but I managed and was also able to enjoy a good view out of the windows of Dakar in the distance. It is quite a magnificent fort with very thick stone walls. Walking along the top of the walls I had a great view of the island as I stepped around the few cannon they had on the walls.

I hurried away from the museum as I wanted to make it to La Maison des Esclaves – probably the most famous attraction of the island. This is a rather small house that used to house slaves for the slave trade. There seems to be some confusion in the guidebooks about the actual extent of the slave trade on the island though it certainly had a number of wealthy merchants who would have had slaves at the time. Entering the un-assuming building the first thing you see are two curved staircases making what resembles a set of parenthesis leading to the first (second) floor. The main floor consists of a series of small rooms (with plastic signs such as “Femmes” and “Enfants” above each of them) and a famous doorway visible from the main entrance between the two staircases of the ocean just a few meters beyond. Evidently the slaves were taken out of the doorway and onto ships though this seems unlikely due to the large number of rocks there.

I managed to trail a group of tourists on a tour being offered by the caretaker (a famous person in his own right, having met a number of famous people giving tours of this place) in French. Ben & Kate were visiting so I had to take their pictures…before heading up the curved staircase(s) to the exhibit on the upper floor which was quite good.

I headed out of the museum and met Steve outside of a shop and chatted for a few minutes before heading off to the beach area for lunch, trying a small café that Steve had suggested. I was one of the few people in the cafe as I ordered a tuna & tomato salad (mistakenly – I do NOT like tinned tuna), skewered beef and a fruit salad for dessert. It was a bit annoying sitting and eating in that particular place as I was hassled a few times with people wanting to sell me watches, paintings, cloth, statues, etc. Very much the tourist area of the island.

Back at the hotel for a bit of a break, I moved to another room since my room from last night was booked for tonight. It is a much smaller room though with a double bed and a view of the neighbouring compounds instead of the alley. The toilet and shower are down the walkway. Oh well. Since there is no one else really in the hotel (I was given my choice of rooms on this side of the upper floor) this should not be a problem.

At 3 o'clock I headed out and visited the Musée de la Femme which I had heard was worth a visit. It was quite good with a series of small rooms containing exhibits on the role of woman in Senegalese life. One of the best things about the museum was that most of the signs were in both french AND English! There was not a lot of information actually in the signs with simply exhibits about ASPECTS of life not actually details about what each artefact actually was or did. I was also happy to pick up a small book about the history of the island from the small shop (which also had, of course, a selection of local handicrafts).

Heading off once again I headed to the south side of the island and Le Castel. I was really getting “into” the island and spent a few hours perched on a rock on the top of the cliffs looking out over the ocean and watching the eagles fly below. Very relaxing.

Eventually we all met up once again for dinner at the normal restaurant (fish with curry sauce for me) though it was a bit upsetting to learn that Steve was sick.

There were posters around the island of a free concert being held in the evening so we managed to wander around and find it. We, of course, were not the first there and the small open-air theatre was thronging with people. We had to stand on a small staircase to the one side of the stage. The group playing are actually a jazz group on the way to the festival up in St. Louis. They were not that bad though there was a local doing some strange dancing in front of the group that seemed to be a bit strung out on something (this was not what you might call normal African dancing). We stayed for a few minutes before heading back to the hotel. Lying in bed, I can hear them still, only about 50 m outside.

⇒ Continue to Wednesday, May 15th, 2002 - St. Louis, Senegal