Cruise Port 11 – Lome, Togo

by Ed · May 18, 2023

Kudo again!

On May 9th, 2023, we find ourselves approaching Lome, Togo! Togo is a sliver of a country wedged between Benin on the east and Ghana on the west!

On my first look in the morning I see the pilot boat coming to meet us. The Togo coastline is coming into view.

Within minutes they are alongside and the pilot is climbing aboard. I love that the embarkation door is directly below our cabin!

In another half hour we are at our pier! This location surprises us by using containers to form a security perimeter around our dock! This is the first port I have ever seen that does this!

We have a tour today to “Discover Lome Capital of Togo”. There are three busloads of passengers for this tour!

But guess what? We have the same Chinese motif bus and driver we the previous two days – same bus and driver three days in a row in three different countries!

Soon we are heading from the port to downtown Lome, passing this beautiful beach!

We stop near this building – it is the Administrative Services for Economics and Finance for the government of Togo.

Then we go a few more blocks to Independence Square – this site marks the April 27th, 1960, Independence Day when Togo won its freedom from French rule! They erected this monument to commemorate that day.

The side of the memorial says, ” In tribute to the people of Togo – Togolese people, by your faith, your courage, and your sacrifices the Togolese nation is born”!

Across the street from the Square is the building that was once the Parliament. They have relocated to a new facility. The Administrative Services building we just saw is partially visible in the distance, so this is a tight area.

On the other side of the Parliament is the National Museum. I want to mention that at this point we “adopt” a police officer who is curious about what we are all doing. He tours the museum with us, and then gives us police escort to all of the rest of our tour stops! I do not dare take his photo since it is forbidden to photograph police and military here.

We meet the curator of the National Museum. He does not speak English, so Elom, our tour guide, translates for him. He speaks briefly about the origins of Togo and the slave trade, then encourages us to look around and ask him questions.

In front of him are the primary artifacts of the slave trade Togo was subject to. Shackles and chains, neck bands, and the carvings showing the subjugation of the people into slavery.

The Museum has this very interesting xylophone of bells. I played the cascade – the small bells rang true and clear, but about halfway down the scale the larger bells were increasingly muddy, not even good for a cowbell.

These are hunting axes that are also useful as defensive weapons.

The plans for how to load slaves into a caravel ship to maximize transportation is preserved here.

Photos of General Charles de Gaule visiting Togo are here!

The six presidents Togo has had since Independence are shown on the wall. I only show the last three. President Gnassingbe on the left died in office. The gentleman in the center was the Vice President and became the President until and election could be held. Weeks later a new President Gnassingbe was elected. He is the son of the deceased President! And he is still the President twenty years later!

Our policeman earns his keep as we leave the museum. He snaps on his lights and siren and we get through intersections fast! We are heading into the Grand Market area for a bit of sightseeing and shopping!

When we arrive we ask where the market is. We learn that the market is not a building as it is in most areas – the market is a part of town, on the streets, and it runs for blocks in every direction! I grabbed the image below from Google earth so you can see what it is. All of the whitish “dots” are market stall umbrellas or dining fly roofs. They extend on both sides of the streets for blocks!

Elom gives us 30 minutes to “shop and explore”! Are you kidding? It should be an hour or two!

Our shopping extravaganza complete (nothing found or bought), our police escort helps us find our way to the next stop – the Voudoun Market!

On our way, there are two strange and interesting buildings I capture on Blvd du Mono along the beach. The first has a half-cone roof on one side! It makes me ask, why bother with the half?

The second has an interesting hook roof line on one side. The other side just goes straight up! This was once a hotel, but now it appears to be abandoned and in disrepair.

As we proceed, behind our police escort with his siren wailing, our mini convoy draws looks from many! We pass a lot of stores that display their merchandise on the sidewalks. We saw something similar at other cities before, but I am pointing these out as very nicely presented. Let’s look at a few more!

This dress shop has manikins nicely lined up! The fashion line on the right is dresses made from the same fabric – they have a face in the print design!

This furniture store neatly displays their merchandise on the sidewalk!

OK, enough of that. Our next destination is the Voudoun Market, also known as the Akodessewa Fetish Market.

Allow me lean into this to let you know that the religion we know as “voodoo” is followed by 55% of the Togo population. But Voudoun is not what we have been led to believe in all of the movies where the witchdoctor casts curses, creates poisons, and makes dolls that torture the intended victim. Voudoun is a religion that follows nature and looks to provide healing for the afflicted. The priest (not a witchdoctor) will prescribe a list of items for the person to buy at the Voudoun market. The priest will use these items to heal the person.

We arrive at the Voudoun Market. We are warned that there is an odor we will encounter. Yup! The market is full of dead animals. I warn you I will show a few of the items.

The center of the area is dominated by a handful of statues.

This is a Voudoun priest. They dance in costumes like this and when the mask is removed the priest’s face is reported to be changed into an animal.

This is a mask maker advertising his wares! I won’t show the third statue – it’s just a large phallic symbol.

On the left, right, and to the back are a series of stalls displaying the “fetishes” that people are asked to buy by their priests. there are even signs that a doctor is available here for consultation! I’ll try to show you a little more without grossing you out.

ALERT! If you don’t want to see dead animals, scroll quickly down past the next three pictures.

The shopkeepers await people to step in to shop, to ask questions. They offer small dolls with and without nails decorating them. They offer skulls, dried animals, pelts, baskets and fabrics.

This is all I’ll show of a stand. Horsetails hang from above, antelope skulls and horns and crocodile heads are below them. Unpinned dolls are in a row above skulls. Baboon skulls are on the table. Dried rodents are in the basket on the right. Finally, warthog heads are displayed in various states from bare skulls on the left and full dried heads on the right.

Joy creates a nice ruckus! We brought some school supplies to hand out to the kids, and she presented the kids with pencils. Here she discovers who the oldest is and gives him a pencil sharpener. She advises him he needs to take care of the younger kids and help them keep their pencils sharpened!

Then it’s time to head to lunch! Our police escort takes us past the EcoBank World Headquarters!

We arrive at the Blue Turtle Resort for lunch, but not before getting caught in a crazy traffic jam on a shortcut the officer knew, and not before turning at the wrong place for the Blue Turtle and ending up on the beach before turning around and making the correct turn!

Our dining venue is this lovely outdoor setting!

Behind the restaurant is a walkway that leads to lovely seating areas surrounding a bar on the beach. I climb up the elevated seating area on the left.