Accra to Cape Coast - Day 294

Date: June 8th, 2010
Distance: 38km (Also cheating by bus.)
Country: Ghana
Song of the Day: Let the Good Times Roll - The Cars

So I took a bus today out to Cape Coast. I know, more cheating, but I only have a couple days left to see Ghana, and I do want to see it. The coast is dotted with forts and castles from all the major colonial powers. I love history, so I couldn't miss this.

The bus dropped me off in Cape Coast. I found a place to stay for the night and dropped my panniers there. Then I headed down the coast to Elmina. The road out there by the ocean was really pleasant. It was cloudy but the beach was beautiful. Long stretches of sand lined with palm trees. If the day had been sunny it would have been perfect for swimming. Me, I wanted to see the castle.

Elmina Castle, officially the Castle of St. George of the Mina, was built by the Portugese in 1482. That is, before the European discovery of the Americas. (Christopher Columbus is said to have been on the expedition to build the fort, actually.) It was later taken by the Dutch. Then in the late 19th century it was sold to the British. It was quite interesting to try and get the feel for the age of exploration. The rusting cannon on the parapets illustrate the struggle between the European powers. The slave dungeons shine light onto the darkest parts of the American colonization. It really is a fascinating place.

From the Castle, I set off to the Fort of St. Jago. This was built by the Dutch to protect the Castle from the very hill that they attacked from when taking the castle. It was a neat place, but there was a lot less explanation about it. I guess it was used as a hotel in the 1970s, and you could see the remnants of that around. That made it hard to tell what you were looking at. Still, the view from the bell tower was amazing. You could see a 360 degree view of the colonial Elmina and its fishing cove. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of this because my camera has died. Actually, everything works, but the button for taking pictures is broken. This is a bit annoying.

From there it was back off to Cape Coast to sleep.

-Dravis