Things to do in Banjul
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Albert Market
In Banjul, the best place to go shopping is Albert Market. If you enter via the main entrance you'll pass stalls stacked with shimmering fabrics, hair extensions, shoes, household and electrical wares and just about everything else you can imagine. Keep going and you'll reach the myriad colours and flavours of the fruit and vegetable market. Beyond here is the area usually called the Craft Market, with stalls selling tourist-tempting souvenirs.
Give yourself a good couple of hours to wander around - long enough to take in all the sights, smells and sounds, and get your haggling skills up to scratch. There are several drinks stalls and chop shops in the market to pacify sh…
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Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital
Gambia's main health facility, the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital not only offers emergency treatment, but also conducts tours of its complex of late-19th-century and modern buildings. This might indicate how wholly the country is devoted to and dependent upon the tourist dollar, or how ingenious even the health sector has to be in order to maintain public services.
A hospital visit might not sound like a seductive holiday idea, but the daily two-hour tours (free, though donations are welcome) are surprisingly interesting. They offer excellent explanations of the hospital's international teaching programmes and research projects into malaria and hepatitis, and a worthw…
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Tanbi Wetland Complex
If you like bird-watching but don't fancy travelling by pirogue, Kankujeri Rd might be more your scene. The stretch of mangrove on either side of the road forms part of the Tanbi Wetland Complex, a large wetland area that stretches all the way to Oyster Creek and Lamin. This, the Banjul part, is commonly known as 'Bund Road', the old name of Kankujeri Road that cuts through the mangrove area.
It's something of a classic on the Gambian bird-watching map, partly for its accessibility, as well as the large number of birds that can be observed here.
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Old Town
West from the ferry terminal towards the wide Ma Cumba Jallow St (Dobson St) is a chaotic assembly of decrepit colonial buildings and Krio-style clapboard houses - steep-roofed structures with wrought-iron balconies and corrugated roofs. It's no coincidence they resemble the inner-city architecture of Freetown, Sierra Leone, as many of them still belong to families who came to Banjul from Freetown, some as early as the 1820s.
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Ferry Terminal
The Ferry Terminal for the ferry to Barra, with its endless queues of rusty lorries, the industrious hum of cargo being loaded and discharged, passengers boarding and disembarking and the continuous chatter of patiently waiting customers is worth experiencing. Directly opposite, the warehouses, clothes stalls and grocery wholesalers that line Liberation St resound with animated bartering that mingles with the clamour.
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Arch 22
Designed by Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby, Arch 22 is a gateway built to celebrate the military coup of 22 July 1994. At 35m high, it's by far the tallest building in The Gambia, and its publicly accessible balcony grants excellent views over the city and coast. There's also a cosy café, a souvenir shop and a small museum that enlightens visitors about the coup d'état.
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St Joseph's Adult Education & Skills Centre
Tucked away in an ancient Portuguese building, St Joseph's Adult Education & Skills Centre has for the last 20 years provided training to disadvantaged women. Visitors can take a free tour of sewing, crafts and tie-dye classes, and purchase reasonably priced items such as patchwork products, embroidered purses and cute children's clothes at the on-site boutique.
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July 22 Square
A recently greened colonial creation, July 22 Square was once the site of cricket matches but is now mainly used for governmental pomp and public celebrations. Look out for the War Memorial and the (now dried-up) fountain 'erected by public subscription' to commemorate the coronation of King George VI of Britain in 1937.
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National Museum
The National Museum has some dog-eared and dated exhibits (including, rather bizarrely, the dress worn by Miss Gambia in 1984) that are still worth a look. Explanations are generally good, and there's a fascinating if dusty display of photos, maps and historical papers.
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Pirogue trips
Pirogue trips make a lovely way to explore the quiet, mangrove-lined waterways of Oyster Creek, the main waterway separating Banjul Island from the mainland, and its minor tributaries which are brilliant for bird-watching, sport fishing and wonderfully lazy afternoons.
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Queen's Nightclub
If you want a night out moving to an African beat, this is the only regularly operating option in the capital. This is a pretty raw scene, where women without male company are very likely to feel leering looks lurking on them. It gets busy after midnight.
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The Sportsfishing Centre
Most hotels organise pirogue trips, though you can also book your tour independently at the The Sportsfishing Centre, located at Denton Bridge, which crosses Oyster Creek some 3km west from Banjul city centre.
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Ali Baba Snack Bar
More than just a kebab shop, this place is an institution with a deserved reputation for the best shwarmas (sliced, grilled meat and salad in pita bread) and felafel sandwiches in the country.
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Kerewan Sound
Near the main entrance of Albert Market, you'll find Kerewan Sound, Gambia's best place to buy CDs and cassettes, and one of the very few places that sells recordings by Gambian artists.
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Michel's
This is about the only restaurant in town that can be called classy. From the breakfast menu through to after-dinner drinks, this place offers excellent choices at decent rates.
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Bacchius Beach Bar
Next to the Palm Grove Hotel, this busy little beach bar is a great place to while away a day or an evening, sipping a drink and digging into a platter of grilled fish.
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King of Shawarma Café
This friendly place serves excellent Lebanese food, both the wrapped-up and sit-down varieties, and what's even better, large glasses of freshly squeezed fruit juice.
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Golden Palace
If you feel like gambling your holiday budget away, try this place. It gets pretty sleazy at times, as seems to be the nature with these jackpot places.
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Mandela Alles Klar Fast Food
The name is as great as the food is greasy. But sometimes nothing but a grilled burger will do, right?
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