I wandered from the Hop-on Hop-off bus into the Handicrafts Market, a mistake in some ways since I finished up spending money but a very enjoyable hour mingling with the cheery stallholders. The most interesting times I spotted were steel guitars fashioned out of old lube cans (See photo). I had been attracted by the strumming of the stallholder whom I would dearly liked to have photographed, so colourful was he, but he declined.
I did however buy from a lady who was born in Southampton some hand painted fridge magnets (Oh come on I haven’t bought many yet!!) of African scenes and wildlife. I bought two more magnets crafted with beads and steel wire – a Gnu’s head and a gecko. My final purchase was a Malachite Rhinoceros. I had no idea that after thousands of years Malachite transforms to copper – you see you learn something every day on a cruise!
By now I was pretty hungry and thirsty so slipped next door into the fresh food market. The wrong place to go really when you are starving since there was so much to choose from but I eventually espied a stall selling fresh coffee and cheesecake! Then the inquisition began: “What type of coffee do you like Sir? Arabica I replied. Sorry we don’t have that but we have a local blend that is similar. How do you take your coffee? “ I was tempted to say ‘in a cup’ but the pained look on the young man’s face was enough for me to bite my tongue. “Filter, steamed, Turkish? Black or with milk? Latte, Cappuccino, Macchiato?” I obviously had lost the knack of ordering coffee in a Costa – “Tall, skinny, wet latte single shot”. I did, however, have an excellent cup of coffee and a slice of homemade strawberry cheesecake!!
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