Prenotazione verificata Viaggio in coppia ago 2026
We had just arrived in Stone Town and wanted to get ourselves better oriented with the city by joining a walking tour. Ali was our guide, and there were 3 of us in the afternoon tour and we met up at the Forodhani Park. There were many cats in the park, Ali explained while some cats were abandoned by their owners in the park, fortunately some kind volunteers would come to the park every day to feed them. There were quite a few groups of young people practicing break dancing in the park gazebo. The park was also where the night market was located, and Ali said we would finish the tour conveniently around the time the food vendors got the stalls set up.
Across from the park was the House of Wonder building under renovation, it's the first building in Zanzibar to have electricity and Ali said it was partially collapsed couple years ago. Then we walked into the alleys and saw many landmarks in the city, including the birthplace of Freddie Mercury and the Livingstone Beach Restaurant. The name Stone Town came from the use of local coral stone as the building material, and we checked out some of these coral stone walls. Then there's the famous Zanzibar wooden doors with designs that blend Swahili, Arab and Indian influences. We already learned so much about Zanzibar halfway into the tour.
Then we came to the Jaws Corner, the popular Stone town square where locals would gather and chat over spiced coffee, and Ali pointed out during World Cup the place was jammed when people all came to watch the games on the open-air public TV. We saw some street vendors selling Ubyyu, the bright red round Zanzibar candy. It's made from seeds of baobab trees and coated in red shell made from sugar syrup. We tried some and it had every taste in it, sweet, savory, sour and spicy ! We also tried the Achari, sun-dried raw mango strips dyed in red using the same syrup. The taste was so interesting that we all bought some to bring back home.
We then stopped by Lukmaan, an open air Swahili restaurant that Ali suggested was the best place to try some authentic Swahili cuisine. The owner was very kind and explained what the various dishes were. We continued onto the Cathedral Church of Christ, which had a big sign that indicated it was a former slave market site. From there we headed to a main street and saw the sign "THE DARAJANI SOUK", the biggest local public market of Stone town. The area was going through some major urban redesign and there were lots of road construction. We came to a fish market, and Ali asked if we were all OK with the smell of the seafood before taking us inside the market. Next was the spice corner, where in addition to spices for cooking, one could also find all kinds of spiced coffee and tea. We then walked past some fruit stalls and saw some monster size avocados only found in Zanzibar. There's a fruit stand at a street corner selling sliced fruits, and Ali bought us some cucumber samples and put on some Zanzibar spices. It tasted very refreshing.
We then walked to a building with the sign Hamamni Baths, and Ali explained it's actually a historical landmark and was no longer used for bathing. And soon we got back to the Forodhani Park, the food market had already become very lively with lots of locals and tourists enjoying the grilled seafood, skewers and all kinds of amazing Zanzibar street food.
We thoroughly enjoyed the tour, and were so happy that Ali was available the next day to take us for another tour to the Prison Island. All three of us in the tour signed up ! And that was another great tour.
Stone Town, Mercato delle Spezie, Storia e Architettura
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