Our general plan as we head around the Ivory Coast of west Africa is not to get off the ship unless we have an Oceania excursion. However, in looking ahead, some of the excursions don’t seem all that desirable anyway. But today our excursion was titled “The Changing Face of Luanda”. We were accompanied by an Oceania employee and followed by security to each place we visited.
We were off the ship by 8:30 and greeted by lively dancers, drummers and a terrible odor (think rotten eggs + dead fish). I snapped some quick photos while hurrying to get on the bus. Even the lobby on Deck 5 where we normally disembark smelled horrible all day long from the odor wafting in through the open door of the disembarkation ramp. Not a good first impression!
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| drummers drumming.... |
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| dancers dancing.... |
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| smiling...though it was terribly stinky and miserably hot |
I was relieved to see that our bus was air conditioned and our guide spoke fair English – as long as he didn’t speak too fast. I’ll be honest. Between all the on-and-off stops, the heat, not always being within earshot of our guide or understanding him even if I was, it was just – a lot. Most of what he talked about concerned the history of Angola, its leaders, its wars, its fighting for independence, etc.
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| Port Luanda terminal |
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| first stop - Iron Palace |
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| 1963-2026 Day of Africa celebration |
Our guide explained the meaning of their flag and its colors - black (color of the people's skin), red (blood), yellow (rising sun), the sickle or blade (agriculture) and the cog (industry).
If anyone reading this is a history buff or just loves to learn, I've included some hyperlinks (bottom) that provide more information than I could give in one or two sentences. Our first stop (above) was the Iron Palace, a historical building believed to have been built by the designer of the Eiffel Tower. We weren’t allowed to enter but simply climbed several floors of iron stairs, then circled around the building and came back down.
From there we were driven to the Church of our Lady of Remedies. As is usually the case, there were souvenirs that could be purchased and children asking for money.
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| Church of our Lady of Remedies |
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| interior of Church of our Lady of Remedies |
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| memorabilia for sale outside |
Our next stop was San Miguel Fort. I'm resorting to AI for help explaining this one, as it will do a far better job than I could. I took tons of photos here.
- The Tiles: Inside the fort’s central courtyard, a low, squat building holds rooms featuring beautifully preserved Portuguese azulejos (tin-glazed blue and white ceramic tiles).
- The Murals: The tile panels were installed during the 1930s to serve as a permanent visual history book. They depict traditional Angolan wildlife, local flora and fauna, early regional scenes, and the colonial history of Angola.
- The Rest of the Museum: The fortress grounds act as an open-air exhibition featuring soviet-era murals, captured cannons, vintage military aircraft, and tanks. The location on Morro da Fortaleza also offers panoramic views over Luanda Bay and the Marginal.
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| entrance to Fortress of Sao Miguel |
Above is the entrance to the Fortress of Sao Miguel. Antonio Agostinho Neto (1922-1979, below) was an Angolan physician, poet and revolutionary who was Angola's first president from 1975 until his death.
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| view of bay through gun port on top of fort |
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| interior Fortress of Sao Miguel |
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| one of several hallways lined with beautiful tiles |
Next was a visit to the National Anthropology Museum. As with the tiles at the fort, I took many photos there. Description of this museum - it "houses over 6,000 traditional artifacts spanning 14 rooms across two floors. It showcases Angola’s rich cultural heritage through ethnographic objects, musical instruments, sacred art, and historical displays representing the country’s diverse ethnic and linguistic groups." I would describe many of the items as quite creepy.
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| National Anthropology Museum |
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| instrument made of gourds |
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| many different masks - some creepy in appearance |
Our last stop was the mausoleum where President Antonio Agostinho Neto, first president of the Republic of Angola lies in a glass enclosed casket inside a huge domed room, literally surrounded 360 degrees by (artificial) flowers. This was the only place we visited that we were not allowed to take pictures.
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| President Neto Memorial Building |
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| mausoleum building entrance |
Finally, after walking through all of the places listed above, we were driven past other points of interest (Igreja de Jesus, Maria & Jose, Houses of Parliament, Malanga and the National Bank of Angola). We were told not to take pictures of any of the government buildings. Apparently someone in the other van took one, and we were all stopped and that person made to delete it. I only took one "drive by" and that was the bank below (note bus window reflection in photo).
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| National Bank of Angola |
Here is more info regarding all of the places we visited in case someone is really interested.
The Iron Palace - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal%C3%A1cio_de_Ferro
Church of Our Lady of Remedies https://hpip.org/en/heritage/details/58
National Anthropology Museum https://pamim.blogspot.com/2006/09/um-pouco-de-cultura-angolana-no-museu_17.html
San Miguel Fort https://welcometoangola.co.ao/en/directorio/fortaleza-de-sao-miguel-de-luanda/
Mausoleum of António Agostinho Neto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Ant%C3%B3nio_Agostinho_Neto
Barbara: I asked a friend if Luanda port/harbor usually smells she was on rigs for 3 years in Angola. She said "Always, and sometimes worse". She says the worst is after lots of rain due to inadequate waste treatment plants that flow into the harbor. She said the refineries are nearby and pollute the water and air. And then there is algae continually blooming which adds the old fish smell. Apparently the plastic rubbish in the harbor has caused overgrowth of algae to be continual. She has very little good to say about Luanda, though she said further inland has pretty places. She still has malaria-even though she took all her meds to prevent it, she says everyone she knows who spent time there got it.
ReplyDeleteLuanda was a key port for slave trade to South America. She said the forts there were used to protect the people who had been captured and to keep the ships safe from pirates.
I am sorry your cruise changed to these ports. Obviously there was not much the cruise ship could do with the hostilities, but it is disappointing. West Africa is still trying to recover from colonization and its aftermath. Until the people have stable governments with honest leaders, money will not go into educating the people so they can improve their lives.
My friend said that the jobs in the oil business pay a pittance, compared to America, but it is still more than a thousand times what non-oil-related workers make. She said usually people work in oil businesses until their English is good and they save money, then they leave Angola to work elsewhere. She said the biggest business is cell phones...because people earn money elsewhere, put it in banks and they use their cell phones to pay, vs credit cards.
Barbara: Oh, and she says the Chinese are investing very heavily in West Africa..and it is a national security concern.
ReplyDeleteAll just awful, but none of it surprises me in the least! I'm so sorry that your friend got malaria!! :-( We are not taking anti-malaria meds but you can be sure we'll use a good insect repellent if/when we even get off the ship. In looking at the upcoming itinerary and the excursions offered in different places, there is honestly nothing much I care about seeing. Partly because we saw a lot of it in 2023 and also because of the amount of walking, the heat and humidity, crummy roads and transportation, threat of crime, etc - nothing that gets me very excited to even get off the ship in some of these places. We're in Sao Tome today and because we were here before, we opted to not even tender ashore. At lunch we saw several others who were on the 2023 ATW and they didn't get off either. Once was enough for them too.
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