Sleepy Mozambique
Yesterday we left Maputo and travelled 8 hours up the coast to a litle town called Inhambane. This morning we enjoyed our free breakfast of toast and jam and then set off to explore the town. We wandered along the seafront past the old mosque, and then the new one, which didn't look any newer than the old one. We walked along the streets, and the atmosphere was lovely - sleepy and charming, with children playing and adults greeting us. Wooden sailing boats (dhows) dotted in the bay and fisherman cast their nets. We found the tiny museum in a back street and learnt a little about the history of Inhambane. Its history goes back a long way, when the first traders from Arabia began stopping here. The Portugese then established it as a port and it became the major economic hub of Mozambique, before everything moved south to the now capital, Maputo.
We walked into town this evening to try the little local restaurant. We had read that restaurants in Mozambique very often have wonderful sounding menus, but when you order something they don't have it. You try again and they don't have that either. So when Diane tried ordering calamari and Emma barracuda neither were available. So Emma asked the waiter what was actually available and he informed us that he had redfish, kingfish and giant prawns. So we ordered redfish and giant prawns and a bottle of white wine. We have never seen such large prawns before! To finish Emma had papaya and Diane had pineapple, which was definitely as good as in Vietnam.
