Up at 6, but our tour guide treated us to pancakes for breakfast which went down a treat. Usually we have cereal and toast options from the side of the truck with tea/coffee and powdered milk. An army of Tuk-tuks quickly arrived to take us down to the ferry port which would take us on to Zanzibar. This was a bit of a hair raising experience it felt a bit like bumper cars without actual contact but they were cutting each other up all over the place. We got to the boat safely and while still on the Tuk-Tuk boarded a small ferry to get to the main terminal. I didn't enjoy this as it felt quite crammed with vehicles and people but thankfully it was very slow and only 2 minutes, it was fine. Lots of locals made the most of the oportunity to stare at us on the short boat ride, felt a little intimidating!
We were on the main ferry 1.5 hrs to get to Zanzibar which we were happy with as we were told 2.5 hours. However, it was pouring with rain, monsoon style! Luckily it didn't last long we all just got drenched getting off the ferry. We were picked up by our tour guide and driven to our hotel.
Very nice place in stone town. We have had our first bit of laundry done here properly, away from the travel wash and a sink, they charged 6,000 shillings which I was more than happy to pay! In the room we had 2 double beds!! Luxury! The shower was cold though which was disappointing but we managed a good wash down before heading off to explore the towns markets with a small group of us.
The markets were brilliant, you are always asked to come into people's shops and people always ask you to buy stuff or look at their merchandise around the streets but as soon as you say Appana Sante (no thankyou) they were ok and started chatting to us about where were from, the locals are very friendly and always say hello and welcome. I bartered myself a bargain bag, got it down by 20,000 shillings! Also picked up a very comfy pair of Hareem trousers. Could have bought so much more though as there was so much cool stuff around! Unfortunately cant afford many souvenirs or space in the bag.
We met back up with everyone and headed off for a drink to watch the sunset on a balcony bar over looking the sea, a pimms went down a treat. We headed off as a big group to the night markets, I was a bit nervous about this to be honest but it was really good. The atmosphere was lovely, it wasn't too crowded and there was some amazing food about! I had a chicken Shwarmah which was similar to a kebab but very very tasty, followed by a Zanzibar pizza of Nutella banana and vanilla pods, that was really yummy. Also, fanta passion fruit is quite big over here and it's my latest addiction, nice and refreshing!
Went with the group for a cocktail at a local well know bar, we sat outside in a nice little garden area.
Came back to the hotel and with the wifi found out about the awful news around the terrorist attack in Nairobi. This shocked alot of us and made us go quite cold. Not the best end to the day but apart from that it was brilliant exploring stone town.