This was SAS's first time docking in Takoradi, the closest you can be on land to 0 degrees latitude, 0 degrees longitude. The city itself is not too big and hasn't seen much tourism compared to a lot of our other destinations. I found the Ghanian people to be very warm, welcoming, and very eager to acquire friends/pen pals in other countries.
Our first day in port, I went to Cape Coast and Elmina to visit the castles and slave dungeons formerly held by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial powers. Elmina is the oldest, biggest, and essentially where the Atlantic slave trade started in Ghana. The Cape Coast castle boasts a visit from Barack and Michelle Obama in 2009. Obama is such a rock star here that they slap his face on everything from school notebooks to cookie wrappers to politicians' campaign signs.
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| Cape Coast Castle |
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| Cape Coast Castle: Door of No Return...where the slaves exited the dungeons to board ships to the new world. |
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| Coastline where the slave ships used to dock. |
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| Inside the Elmina Castle: Female Slave Dungeons. |
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| Elmina Castle: Door of No Return. |
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| Elmina |
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