Hi! Hope you're doing well? Today we meet again for the part 2 of my 7-day trip to Accra. If you haven't seen part 1 yet, I invite you to read it here. Thank you for joining me today. Let's pursue our adventure!
Day 4: On Day 4, we went out Accra, precisely at Cape Coast, capital of the Central Region of Ghana. We leaved early in the morning and didn't get enough time for breakfast, so we stopped at a gas station to buy some food. After a few hours of driving, we arrived at our first destination: the Elmina castle anciently: São Jorge da Mina, which is the oldest and largest in Ghana and in West Africa. The visit started in the main courtyard, where the guide told us a brief history of the castle. Indeed, building at the castle started in 1482 and ended up in 1486, making Elmina castle the most ancient in Ghana. At the beginning, the castle was mainly used for gold and ivory trade. Then it gradually became a slave trading center. It is estimated that about 30.000 slaves were traded every year in Elmina until slave trading was abolished. We then visited the women's and the men's dungeons, the gate of no return, and ended with the prisoners' cells and the officer's mess. It was very emotional to see the conditions in which these slaves were living.
After the Elmina castle, we stopped at the Cape Coast Castle. Both castles have about the same configuration. Even if their history is quite different. The Cape Coast castle first belonged to the Portuguese with the name Cabo Corso, then to the Swedish, the Danes, the Dutch and finally the British by whom the name Cape Coast finally stay. I really appreciated the courtesy of the guide. In fact, we were the only French speakers, and had some difficulties understanding all that he was saying, but he attempted to speak slower and to take us aside afterwards to make sure we understood everything. Just like at Elmina castle, the visit moved us a lot, even more since we experienced (for a less than 2 minutes) the living conditions in the cell. In fact, the guide asked us to go inside the prison, and locked the door so that we could feel the struggle in which these slaves found themselves. It was really horrible. Those who died in this cell were those who rebelled, those who wanted to protest against the inhumane conditions and mistreatment they were suffering, and unfortunately, they paid with their lives. At the entrance of the cell, you will notice a little board with about a hundred names. And the note:
“We are the children of those who refuse to die.”
The guide explained that a few years ago, a group of African-American tourists from the African Genesis Institute came to visit the castle. Most of them were extremely moved and even burst into tears. So just back home they sent this board.
Both visits took us a bit of time, so we had lunch relatively late. After that, we took the road to the Kankum National Park. Unfortunately, we arrived almost at closing time, and the only activity left was the canopy. Bruh! It was not bad, but it was really tiring, because we had to climb a lot of kilometers before we could reach our destination. We then returned to Accra, around 9pm, exhausted but thrilled tho.
Day 5: After this exhausting day, naturally the program of day 5 was not very busy. We spent the morning between the residence and the Niobe Beauty Spa. It was my first experience in a spa and I was not disappointed at all. I chose the 60 mins program, but I fell asleep after the first 30s haha. The staff was very friendly. After the spa, we went to shopping and had lunch at Accra Mall before heading to the airport for our Covid test. We ended the day at Poki House, a restaurant located in the Osu area, near to our residence where we had dinner with my father's friend and our great helper during this stay.
Day 6: On day 6, we continued with the shopping at the Arts Center where we had to show off our negotiation skills haha. But we got some nice stuff. After that, we went to the James Town Lighthouse. Unfortunately, the site was under renovation so we couldn't visit it. I just took some pictures of the outside and we went back to Accra Mall, Palace Mall, and Orca Deco. In the evening, we stopped at Buka Restaurant for dinner. Back at the residence, I had a visit from a friend who was also in Accra. We chilled and packed our bags for the next day.
Day 7: 📍Saturday, August 21th 2021, Kotoka International Airport... My mother, my two little sisters and I are on a plane of the Air Cote d'Ivoire company, destination Ouagadougou. It is already the end of our stay, short but very interesting. I want to thank Dr. Tapsoba, who has always been available and who helped us a lot during this journey; Benjamin our driver, friend and guide haha; the staff of Axis Suites, and all the people who contributed to make this trip so beautiful. It is with hearts full of gratitude and heads full of beautiful memories that we landed on this Saturday afternoon at Thomas Sankara International Airport.
Externals sources:
Dear reader, we are already at the end of this 7-day trip in Accra. I hope you appreciated it. Thanks again for being here. May God bless you, take care!
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