From Anakoa we took the return trip, boat, zebu cart, hair raising taxi drive to the airport. Hand written boarding passes, full manual search of our bags- intense. Harry lost his pen knife to the bin (forgot to put it in hold luggage). Signs saying not to put in hand luggage, ornaments (wood, stone or metal) would have been more useful before we surrendered our hold luggage. Funny though once through security you could buy them from the souvenir shops. Our flight was short, made longer by Intrepid booking us on a flight with two legs. Two orange juices and two packets of biscuits later we arrived back in Antananarivo. Back through the busy city to the same hotel on the hill. A shower and cup of tea and off we went for a walk down to the lake - we have got the negotiating around traffic sorted - at one point Harry said "we will just dive across the road here". Dinner at the hotel and an early night.
The next day started like very good day should. A late leisurely breakfast. Fruit, tea and and hard little bread things with jam ( far preferable to stale bread) and good conversation with those in the group who decided to stay on. Said goodbye to new kiwi friends Imelda and Geoffrey who head off to Capetown. It occurred to me Intrepid tours don't go in for relaxing morning conversation over numerous cups of tea.
So today we decided to go for a wander. Not entirely sure how far we would get - that would probably depend on the number of people trying to sell us things and how persistent they are. In the afternoon we met a law student who walked with us for a while. I must admit my first reaction was "what does he want". That disappointed me - I have become suspicious of every stranger. What a sad way to live.
We wandered past more shops - one selling push chairs. We have seen lots of babies but no push chairs on these busy, narrow, crowded, cobbled streets - so turnover for this novelty item must be a tad slow.
With only a hint of a map given to us by the hotel (black faint lines on a piece of paper and no street names) we stumbled across a market - obviously catering for tourists - higher prices, security guards, no pestering and luxury items (paintings, pottery, jewellery and linen). We found a table cloth and had a look at the photos commemorating independence.
The area we ventured into felt quite safe. We both had our phones attached to our trou and money in our security pockets but at no time did we feel threatened.
We found the Queens palace after stopping on some shady steps for an orange and biscuit. A bit pricey to get into as you had to pay for a guide as well. The palace burnt down in 1995 - they think due to arsonist activities by political activists. The chapel has been renovated but progress appears to be very slow "the expected date for finishing the renovations varies with every conversation". Here we learnt you aren't allowed to point at the tomb of the king - it is a hard habit to get out of - but it is considered rude through out the country.
We then wandered down the hill to the presidential building. Keen to look at the architecture rather than the exhibits we paid some more money and were accompanied by an elderly gentleman. Inside I marveled over the dome atrium and wooden architraves while he tried to engage us in the paintings of generations of royalty and gifts from Queen Victoria in faltering English. We smiled and nodded as he often resorted to French. We may have been giving inappropriate signals as later I sat on the balcony of the hotel and read up about the tyranny of some of the Queens. In particular Queen Ranavolona I killed babies born on unlucky days and persecuted Christians by putting them head first into rice and pouring boiling water over them. Her successors banned Christianity altogether and then reinstated it.
I have been very impressed with the linguistic skills of the Madagassy people. Many know their tribal dialect, official Madagassy learnt at school, French and a splattering of English.
On the way back I felt like a cool drink and a nibble and we wandered into the four star Carlton who refused to serve us. The cafe didn't look closed but I am assuming it was - otherwise they may have been making a comment on our dress (dusty, hats and sunnies).
17000 steps and we were back where we had started. We enjoyed the last of the sun on the balcony while nibbling on hot chips and listening to the bustle of the city. Met up with Remo, Sandrin, Suzy and Tracey at a Thai for dinner which apparently was empty last Saturday but full of Japanese tourists this evening. We left before the karaoke started.
The next day started like very good day should. A late leisurely breakfast. Fruit, tea and and hard little bread things with jam ( far preferable to stale bread) and good conversation with those in the group who decided to stay on. Said goodbye to new kiwi friends Imelda and Geoffrey who head off to Capetown. It occurred to me Intrepid tours don't go in for relaxing morning conversation over numerous cups of tea.
So today we decided to go for a wander. Not entirely sure how far we would get - that would probably depend on the number of people trying to sell us things and how persistent they are. In the afternoon we met a law student who walked with us for a while. I must admit my first reaction was "what does he want". That disappointed me - I have become suspicious of every stranger. What a sad way to live.
We wandered past more shops - one selling push chairs. We have seen lots of babies but no push chairs on these busy, narrow, crowded, cobbled streets - so turnover for this novelty item must be a tad slow.
With only a hint of a map given to us by the hotel (black faint lines on a piece of paper and no street names) we stumbled across a market - obviously catering for tourists - higher prices, security guards, no pestering and luxury items (paintings, pottery, jewellery and linen). We found a table cloth and had a look at the photos commemorating independence.
The area we ventured into felt quite safe. We both had our phones attached to our trou and money in our security pockets but at no time did we feel threatened.
We found the Queens palace after stopping on some shady steps for an orange and biscuit. A bit pricey to get into as you had to pay for a guide as well. The palace burnt down in 1995 - they think due to arsonist activities by political activists. The chapel has been renovated but progress appears to be very slow "the expected date for finishing the renovations varies with every conversation". Here we learnt you aren't allowed to point at the tomb of the king - it is a hard habit to get out of - but it is considered rude through out the country.
We then wandered down the hill to the presidential building. Keen to look at the architecture rather than the exhibits we paid some more money and were accompanied by an elderly gentleman. Inside I marveled over the dome atrium and wooden architraves while he tried to engage us in the paintings of generations of royalty and gifts from Queen Victoria in faltering English. We smiled and nodded as he often resorted to French. We may have been giving inappropriate signals as later I sat on the balcony of the hotel and read up about the tyranny of some of the Queens. In particular Queen Ranavolona I killed babies born on unlucky days and persecuted Christians by putting them head first into rice and pouring boiling water over them. Her successors banned Christianity altogether and then reinstated it.
I have been very impressed with the linguistic skills of the Madagassy people. Many know their tribal dialect, official Madagassy learnt at school, French and a splattering of English.
On the way back I felt like a cool drink and a nibble and we wandered into the four star Carlton who refused to serve us. The cafe didn't look closed but I am assuming it was - otherwise they may have been making a comment on our dress (dusty, hats and sunnies).
17000 steps and we were back where we had started. We enjoyed the last of the sun on the balcony while nibbling on hot chips and listening to the bustle of the city. Met up with Remo, Sandrin, Suzy and Tracey at a Thai for dinner which apparently was empty last Saturday but full of Japanese tourists this evening. We left before the karaoke started.
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