City Walking Tour

Playing the strategy game of Fanorona.

The local washing and drying business.

The washing happens in the building.

The drying everywhere outside.

The ruins of the queen's palace that burned in 1995.

The view of the man made lake. 

The first Catholic Cathedral.

Malala and the map of Antananarivo.

Back down the stairs to the hotel.

Thursday, November 2^nd.

I walked up the hill to Independence Square and the Ortana tourism office. I asked for a guide for the two hour city walking tour. The lady phoned a guide and said the guide would be there in twenty minutes. So I hung around watching the locals. This seems to be a lovers park with a number of young couples sitting on benches overlooking the city. When the guide arrived it was the girl I talked to yesterday. Her name was Malala Rambeloarisoa.

Antananarivo is built on a number of hills. Malala took me on an interesting walk through parts of the three levels of the city, all having to do with elevation: the lower, middle and upper. She told me parts of the history of the city from early exploration in the 1500's, to British rule (who introduced Christianity and European type schools), French colonization from 1882 to 1958 and finally independence which they achieved in 1960. Malala explained that Madagascar had kings and queens up until the time of the formation of the republic in 1960 and that the royalty and rich and important people lived on the upper part of the city. Today there is the remains of the queen's palace and a number of private schools and government buildings. She told me about a particularly mean queen who executed hundreds of Malagasy citizens who converted to Christianity because she didn't believe in the European way of life or religion. However she was willing to accept European help if it was for her benefit, for example: the “Queen's Palace” which was built of wood for the queen in 1839 by the French and later was encased in stone by the British. The royal family was done away with around 1900 and the palace was destroyed by fire in 1995 just before it was to be declared a world heritage site. Malala showed me a number of important buildings, from the Presidential palace, to the government buildings, the first post office, etc.

As we walked around I watched the local people and was thankful for her company as no one approached me to beg or sell me something. We watched a couple of men playing a strategy board game called Fanorona which I have noticed is very popular here. I also talked to Malala and we asked each other questions about our countries. She told me that the basic diet of the Malagasy people is rice. She said they eat a 'mountain of rice' three times a day. Rice soup in the morning, rice with veggies for lunch and rice with meat or fish pieces in the evening. She went to university for two years studying 'economy' and then a year of schooling to be a tourism guide. She said that is the 'science of all' because she had to study about the geology, flora, fauna, history, and economy of her country in order to guide tourists and answer all their questions. She also said that most tourists don't want to stay in the city and have come to the country to see the natural world and the country side. I agree with that.

The most interesting thing we saw was a clothe washing business. Here local women are paid to wash clothes. They pay for the water and the soap and wash other peoples clothes in tubs a building and then lay them out to dry on railings, fences and the ground to dry. When I asked how they know whose clothes are whose, Malala said each woman has an area where they put the clothes and the only time when there is confusion is when a new woman comes and they have to jockey for space.

I enjoyed the walk and Malala's company. As always a local guide is the best way to learn about an area.

I spent the rest of the day in the hotel typing and reading. I finished the Grisham book and have started another one that Ryan gave me called Prussian Blue by Phillip Kerr. It is about a murder investigation at Hitler's retreat, the Kehlstein House at Berchtesgaden high in the Bavarian Alps. The 'Tea House' which was built for Hitler before the war is accessed through a tunnel into the mountain and then an elevator up through the rock to the summit. Amazing place with a spectacular view. I have been to this place back in 1979. Interestingly I had mentioned this place to a couple of young Germans on my Southern Africa trip and they had never heard of it.