My Parents Visit Zanzibar!

Anyone who has been reading my blog the past year or two already knows that I'm addicted to Zanzibar. It's hard not to be. When my parents booked their trip to East Africa this February, there was no way we weren't making a stop on my favorite island off the coast of Tanzania. So even though this post is verging on Zanzibar gluttony, here it is anyway.

After a long flight from Rwanda and many headaches over a difficult plane ticket and travel issues, we finally arrived at about 3 am in Stonetown. The humid, spicy Zanzibari air hit us even in the middle of the night as we rode a taxi to our hotel. 

There was a mistake on our room booking, so we were upgraded into an amazing seaview room with an oceanfront balcony!

The next morning we set out exploring the old city.

We checked out the beautiful waterfront and Forodhani gardens.

We lingered around Stonetown's markets, full of ripe fruits and vegetables, every type of grain and pasta, 

very fresh meat and fish....

and dried octopus! 

We passed up this great bargain. 

We also ate our fill of seafood, soup, and kebabs at the nightmarket

I'd been to Zanzibar before...twice...so I knew my way around, and I happily played the role of tour guide.

It was wonderful to spend so much quality time with my parents (they last time I'd seen my parents was nine months ago, in Rome). I have pretty great parents. 

I was facing a lot of big decisions about my future, and it was great timing because my parents could offer me a lot of advice and support about it. 

We made our way through Stonetown, and then made our way to Nungwi, in the north, for three days.

The beaches are breathtaking, and we'd spend hours swimming in the warm, turquoise waters and walking along the white sands, until our hands and feet were shriveled up. 

We took in Zanzibar's epic sunsets, and went on a sunset dhow boat cruise.

We spent a day snorkeling off the Mnemba atoll, and eating fish cooked atop a small grill on the boat. 

The week ended with a teary goodbye at the Zanzibar airport, and then my flight back to the Land of a Thousand Hills.