Day 8 - Accra, the capital city of Ghana

We made it through our first week in Ghana and now we are entering into a holiday weekend in Ghana.

Our CSC team of 11 met earlier this week and agreed on our weekend itinerary for sightseeing around Ghana.  Based on this input, Francis, our liaison officer, scheduled a group tour of Accra today.

Accra is the capital and largest city in Ghana with the population of the city proper estimated at 1,963,264 as of 2009. Accra also doubles as the capital of the Greater Accra Region. Accra is the administrative, communications, and economic centre of the country.  Originally built around a port, Accra stretches along the Atlantic Coast and north into the interior. It has served as Ghana's nation’s capital since 1877 when Ghana was known as the Gold Coast

The distance between Tema (where we are staying) and Accra is approximately 30 km - however, due to traffic considerations the drive in can take anywhere up to 2 hours.  Today, our driver took us into Accra along the beach road, instead of our normal route along the motorway.  The route was slow and bumpy and took over an hour - but the drive was scenic.

Our first stop of the day was an African artisan craft store.  This would be similar to the Crafters Marketplace that we used to have around the GTA.   Local crafts are on display with fixed prices displayed.  The artisans are not at the store - the goods are displayed and presented by the store owners.  Many of our team members purchased items such as masks, beads and other African crafts.  I bought a map of Accra (yes Eric, really, I did!)

Independence Square

The bus took us to various landmarks and sights around Accra and we stopped at a number of shops and markets over the course of the day.  We also stopped a local clothing and fabric store.  Somehow, it seemed that women were more enthusiastic about this stop than the 4 male team members.

The men hanning out at Woodin's while the women shop

Our lunch stop was at a local African restaurant called Buka.  Ghanian food is becoming more familiar now and we are beginning to recognize local dishes we like on the restaurant menus.  For today's lunch, I had beans serviced with rice.  It was very tasty.

The Ghana 6 team lunching at Buka in Accra



Beans and Rice - it may look similar to baked beans
  but the taste is much spicier

Our last stop of the day was at the African arts centre.  This was a completely different format from our first stop of the day would be likened to a African version of a flea market.  Each vendor owns a stall in the centre and sells their own wares.  No prices are posted and bartering is expected.  In many cases, the vendors are very aggressive trying to get you into their stall.   I enlisted assistance from Francis, our local liaison officer.   In the end I bought a new purse and an African pendant - of course I have no idea whether I got a good deal or not but the vendors looks suitably disappointed when the transaction was completed.

The itinerary for tomorrow involved a trip to the Cape Coast area so an early night is in order.  So ended Day 8 in Ghana.