Happy Easter!

Ghana is a country along the Gold Coast of the Gulf of Guinea. It's a little bigger than Minnesota and a little smaller than Michigan. It is bordered on the west by Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), on the north by Burkina Faso and on the east by Togo.

Sekondi-Takoradi is a city in Ghana comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. Sekondi-Takoradi is the region's largest city as well as an industrial and commercial center with a population of 245,382 people, according to the 2021 census. Both cities grew from Dutch and English forts built around the 17th century.  After a railway and a deepwater seaport was built in Sekondi and Takoradi in 1903 and 1928, both cities became important economic sectors in Ghana. They merged in 1946. Leading industries in the city are timber, cocoa processing, plywood, shipbuilding, its harbor and railway repair, and recently, sweet crude oil and crude oil. The most common occupation in Sekondi-Takoradi is fishing.

I opted for a morning tour to Elmina. It is a fishing village and the site of a World Heritage Site – Elmina Castle. We were transported in very nice, air-conditioned buses. As in all the other countries we had a motorcycle policeman leading the way - it is the ONLY way we can get through the traffic. It was Easter morning, so traffic was relatively light, but it still took us over an hour and a half to get there. Roads in Ghana are in very poor condition with lots of potholes and speed bumps. We saw many people walking to church in all white clothing.

When we arrived in Elmina, we got off the buses and took a walk through the small fishing town.

It was interesting to see the life on the street.

We saw cooking

Cleaning fish

What amazes me is even with the abject poverty and dirt roads, everyone was wearing very clean clothing. Woman were washing in tubs.

Everyone was friendly and the kids were so cute. None were begging which I hope continues to be the case. We were strongly told to not give out candy, etc.

I love taking pictures of the children and the ship’s photographer even took a picture of me showing my camera to them so they could see the pictures.

Photographer's photo of me:

Because it was Easter, most of the fishing boats were jammed into the harbor. They usually go out at least overnight and sometimes for up to a week.

After our walk, we drove up to Elmina Castle.

History from Wikipedia: Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina (St. George of the Mine Castle), also known as Castelo da Mina or simply Mina (or Feitoria da Mina), in present-day Elmina, Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast. It was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea and is the oldest extant European building south of the Sahara.

First established as a trade settlement, the castle later became one of the most important stops on the route of the Atlantic slave trade. The Dutch seized the fort from the Portuguese in 1637, after an unsuccessful attempt in 1596, and took over all of the Portuguese Gold Coast in 1642. The slave trade continued under the Dutch until 1814. In 1872, the Dutch Gold Coast, including the fort, became a possession of the United Kingdom.

The church

Regular dungeon

Dungeon of Death – slaves put in here were not given food or water and eventually died.

We started to tour the castle. Going into the second room wasn’t too bad but to continue the tour you had to go through “the door of no return”. This involved bending way over to squeeze through. I decided I’d had enough of the heat and humidity so returned to the air-conditioned bus. Learning about the slave trade is very disturbing for me so didn’t feel I was missing anything of interest to me. The humidity makes it feel like it is nearly 100 so I can only take so much time in the sun or dark, airless rooms.

When everyone had returned to the bus we started back to the ship. Traffic was much heavier than in the morning and it took nearly three hours to get back. By the time we got back all the dining venues were closed but they said they would keep the grill open for another 15 minutes if we wanted lunch. It was after 3 pm but had to have something to tide me over until dinner.

After lunch I went out to the craft market on the pier and found some nice things to buy. Then back on the ship to get a much needed shower.

This afternoon’s trivia had an Easter theme. Another lady and I had gotten online and found “Easter Trivia” to study so our team tied for first place.

The next day we go to Tema - the port for the capital Accra.