Stone Town (Zanzibar, Tanzania):
The history and atmosphere of the old city surrounding Zanzibar's port -- declared a UNESCO site in 2000 -- is tangible, its town planning almost medieval. Get lost in its labyrinth of narrow, winding lanes lined with tall crumbling buildings, where turning a corner can produce the sparkling ocean or a courtyard of local schoolchildren intoning the Koran. While it is a popular tourist destination, Stone Town is no sanitized historical re-creation, and you'll cross paths with (or observe, from your spot on the sand or on the balcony of the House of Wonders) African men in long dresses, women draped in black, and bare-backed men on the seashore sweating beneath huge bags of spices. |