Our trip to Mombasa old town was unplanned. Happened due to Ukunda Airstrip (Diani airstrip) being closed for a few days. Short halt but so beautiful! The quaint rocky lanes, old old buildings gave such an aura of an era bygone. A town established around 900 AD, the place is abundant with Arab influence, be it in architecture, religion, trading history. The busy port is worthy of a drive-by.
Most of these buildings here were built during the colonial period, during Arab rule. Mombasa Old Town can boast of many firsts. The oldest hotel in Kenya, more than a century old, was built in 1900 and opened in 1901. Seeing the old old facade, you cannot help wonder about its journey through time. From perhaps Portuguese to Arabs to people from other parts of Kenya, from India would have stayed in these rooms. Most would have come for work in the port areas, others could have stopped to trade. As you pass by this rather low lying building now, you remind yourself of the humungous changes this hotel has been witness to!
The oldest police station in Kenya is here…yes, you see these on a drive through quaint cobblestone-lined old winding lanes. During the slave era while the Arabs ruled, this police station was built. The third oldest mosque in Kenya, Mandhry Mosque, is here, the first being in Diani and the second in Lamu.
And then of course, there is Fort Jesus. The Portuguese built it in the late 16th century to protect Port Mombasa. Created by Italian designer Giovanni Battista Cairati and built under order of King Filipe I of Portugal and the Algarves, Fort Jesus is a stony sombre presence, housing mysteries of war and royalty inside its fortified walls. We had no time to enter, maybe next time!
Enter the island and get a view of old old buildings, cobble stone lanes. Drive down the waterfront and the scene changes to luxury along the serene Indian Ocean. Hot humid is suddenly replaced by a cool breeze. Awesome drive down this stretch as you see bungalows, lush green lining the two sides of the road and then the magic of the sparkling blue of the Indian Ocean.
And then, a short wait for the ferry to take us to Diani; more about this in another blog 🙂