I spent Monday writing this blog and enjoying the ship. I attended a cooking demonstration and listened to a lecture on the TV in the room about shore attractions. Michael and I have a veranda (small porch). We spent some time sitting there and watching the ocean go by. Cape Town had temperatures in the 70's. Port Elizabeth was in the high 70's to low 80's. As we approached Maputo, Mozambique, the temperatures continued to warm. By the time we reached Maputo the temperature was in the nineties with very high humidity.
Tuesday, we spent most of the morning watching the approach to Maputo. The city is inside a bay. The ship took a long circuitous route north, then south. We docked at 1:00 p.m. and minibuses were waiting to take passengers on a tour of the city. We booked the city tour as there was no way to know how safe the city was nor how easy to get around. The tour turned out to be much more worthwhile than I expected. We try not to have preconceptions about a new place but are usually surprised at what we find. The first surprise was that the skyline had many tall buildings. Maputo is a real city of several million people. Mozambique was a Portuguese colony until the mid 1970's. Maputo didn't really start growing until well into the 20th century. The only structures I saw that predated 1910 were the train station and a building known as the "iron house", both designed by Gustav Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame.
The train station is a true gem. The "iron House" is simply strange. Eiffel designed train stations throughout the world. I have also seen one in Saigon. I believe he had a standard design that he altered to suit local needs. The ironwork at the Maputo station is exquisite. The paint is a bit faded and the walls have current posters. The station is in daily use, is worn here and there but has been maintained in sound condition.
The "iron house", on the other hand, was essentially useless until the advent of air conditioning. Ironwork was the hot technology of the late nineteenth century and it was impressive that Eifel designed the structure as a government building and had it built and shipped to Mozambique for assembly. Unfortunately, the building was too hot for anyone to work or live in.
Maputo's City Hall is a massive brown stone building in Federal style dating from the 1930's. Across the square is a wonderful Art Deco Catholic cathedral. In the center of the square, inevitably named Freedom Square, is a massive bronze statue of the nation's founder and first President.
The country suffered through a civil war for the first ten years of its existence. Little building took place during that era except for some ugly Soviet style apartment houses. The Communist Bloc backed the government and the west backed the rebels. Now, everyone claims that the country is a democracy. Lots of new buildings are going up now, many financed by the Chinese.
We visited a French museum decorated with a number of sculptures made of AK47s and other weaponry from the period of civil war. Very strange. The artwork appears to be an attempt to "beat swords into plowshares."
A stroll through the colonial era park preceded a visit to a luxury hotel for the usual hill top view of the city. We visited a wonderful small natural history museum. African wildlife was depicted in naturalistic poses, predators attacking prey with gore and blood simulated. This would be politically incorrect in the United States. The exhibits were well done and we enjoyed them.
Our guide took us to another luxury hotel and a craft market. He seemed to be trying to convince us to come back to Maputo for a stay at the hotel.
I can't say a three hour visit to Maputo gave me a very deep understanding of Mozambique but it was wonderful to get a flavor of a very different culture.
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Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639
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