Old Buildings Galore

18^th-21^st September 2012 – Grand-Bassam, Côte D'Ivoire

Grand-Bassam is a short bush taxi ride away from Abidjan but it's a different world entirely. The old capital of the French Côte D'Ivoire territory, the old town is a quiet patchwork of colonial buildings set on the beach.

The lagoon

"An old building"

"More old buildings"

It was a quite few days in Bassam – walking around, having a bite to eat here and a drink there, wandering up and down the beach and avoiding the odd wandering-rastaman-salesman. We also managed to get in a touch of culture by going to the costume museum and seeing how people dressed back in the days. The museum is housed in the old house of the first governor of the Ivory Coast territory, Marcel Treich-Laplène, and a room on the first floor still contains the bathtub and toilet that he must have used. Seeing history so close up is a very humbling experience.

Wandering the beaches...

Wandering the streets...

And releasing the carnivore within

Evenings were quiet – Bassam seems to switch off at around 10pm and we were the only people out and about after this time – but were generally spent very well and invariably featured grilled chicken or brochettes with a Drogba or two. After a few days of “the hard life” it was time to head back to Abidjan...

"Dumping garbage and shitting forbidden"