Our First Cape Coast Adventure, episode 5 - Cape Coast Castle

Friday late afternoon and evening, May 14, 2021

We checked into the hotel, put things in the room, jumped into the truck and proceeded down into the city.  We had been warned to expect to be swarmed at the castles by locals selling their stuff.  So very true.  We took the tour, saw the dungeons, for the men and separate ones for the women.  The slave trade was a bad thing.  Those being sold were treated terribly.  The sellers were stupid businessmen as well as morally retarded persons.  Many slaves died in that place due to the living conditions.  Many died as well on the ocean voyage to North American and the Caribbean Islands, and wherever else they were sold.

I had to include this last picture.  These are Ghanaians enjoying a visit to this castle just like us. These people look so good in colorful clothing.

Remember, these people had been sold into slavery by their fellow Africans.  The Europeans wanted gold, silver and other valuable materials and didn’t go to Africa hunting for slaves.  There were plenty made available by the local tribes.  The slave trade had been going on all over the world for centuries, even millennia.  This is said not to undermine what happened here, but to state facts and put things in perspective.  It was a horrible thing to do.  No excuses accepted.  

The Cape Coast is a must see if you are in Ghana.  The Elmina Castle just to the west is better.  Just my assessment.  It is also a must see.  And you will, in the next episode or so.

We got away from the vendors by buying bracelets with our names on them in Ghanaian colors. And I bought a painting of a fishing boat on the beach to remind me of the pictures we had taken that morning.

The day was well spent.  We relaxed in the hotel and had dinner.  Tonight Elaine got fish.  The whole fish.  I ordered the hamburger, again expecting it to be a familiar hamburger.  Turned out to be a meatloaf sandwich.  Okay.  Not what I expected.  Africa.