This was another rest day of ours and we spent time exploring Beira city. It is the second largest city in Mozambique with population about half a million people. It lies next to the sea and has important port that acts as a gateway for central interior and neighbourhood countries. In the morning we went to the beach, which was OK, not really super clean, but fine. Fishing boats and some locals in the water:
We walked alongside the beach to the city centre where we came along burned down and derelict Biques campsite. It used to be pool, bar, restaurant, and it was the only campsite in Beira, and right next to the beach... What a shame... The only thing that works today is bar and restaurant right next to it.
Just a few hundred metres away the scene changed extremely: fancy hotels, brand new cars and freshly built apartment blocks. Luxuries for foreign business men:
In the city centre of Beira, notorious Grande Hotel Beira hotel lies almost in ruins. It was opened in 1954 and operated for eight years being luxury hotel for business travellers and wealthy tourists from Rhodesia, South Africa, Portugal. During the war it was used as military base, but now it is in a state of disrepair with more that 3500 people squatting there: using the now polluted Olympic swimming pool for washing, accumulating garbage, water leaks, the squatters sold everything they could find in the hotel including electricity and sewer infrastructures, burned parquet for cooking. They been living there in their third generation.
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| Photo: http://mg.co.za |
Some locals were in the restaurant, then some local businessmen came for lunch meeting next to our table. We ordered some beer and fish:
And a selfie for the blog :)
In the evening we went out with James and his friends, had great dinner and had more interesting stories about our lives in Africa.
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