Do you know what a Bugatti is? Of course you do. (I didn’t.) Do you know what a Tanzanian Bugatti is? We got to see a few of them on the ride back into Stone Town. Think planks of wood, half-hazardly nailed together balanced on two tiny tires, hitched to a cow, and pulling all sorts of goods. The driver (?) is usually standing in the middle of it, but only if it is large enough.

Jason, in all of his travelling wisdom, planned ahead and booked us a pretty swanky hotel for the next couple of nights. (Foreshadowing: we are going to have 7 days of H-E-double hockey sticks coming soon!) The Tembo Hotel is one of the original hotels in Stone Town and is where a whole lot of royalty stayed in the past. We are very happy. A highlight was watching the bellmen carry ALL of our luggage up 4 flights of stairs. Remember, we have not packed lightly – we have tons of donations we are still lugging around. One suitcase above the head, a huge backpack on the shoulders and up those stairs quicker than we could do it.

Pro tip for when you come to visit Stone Town, especially if you are coming during low season: EVERYONE is a tour guide. Don’t bother booking anything special ahead of time, you will encounter 3 or 4 guides for every 30 steps you take and they all want to help you. Nobody is pushy and they are all very friendly and genuinely eager to help you out, so feel free to hire one of them off the street, or not. There is no real pressure, other than you are asked constantly.

Stone Town has a very interesting and dark history. It was a major point of contact for the slave trade. The Old Fort, where the slaves were auctioned off, was built first by the Portuguese settlers. Afraid of retaliation by the Portuguese, the British built it even higher after conquering them. It was a wasted effort because the Portuguese never even tried. The history of this relatively small city is fascinating and well worth a tour guide explaining the ins and outs of its history.

One of their positive claims to fame, and they cash in on it very successfully, is that Stone Town is the birthplace of Freddie Mercury – you know, of Queen fame. The house he lived in until he was seven has been turned into a shrine/museum. We really enjoyed the museum, as simple as it was. If you are a huge Queen fan, I doubt you would learn anything new or see anything you haven’t seen before. It mentions a brief history of his childhood, then really focuses on his career with Queen. There was zero mention of his private life. None. For us, it was worth the $8 US to enter and spend 40 minutes walking through it. You can finish your Freddie experience by having a bite to eat at ‘Mercury’s’, a touristy, but tasty restaurant along the shoreline. As an added bonus, you’ll be able to see the locals gather along the beach playing soccer, exercising or just hanging out until it gets completely dark at 7:00pm.

Stone Town is also known for all beautiful, fancy doors adorning the buildings. It didn’t matter if the building was falling apart, in a poor area, new, a business or a residence, the door was incredible. The shape of the door header will tell you who built it; round is Indian, square is Arabic. Either way they were ornate, decorative, enormous and we now have way too many pictures of doors.