Marhubi Palace Ruins
Thursday, September 8, 2005
Back in our mini-vans, we all headed out of Stonetown toward the Marhubi ruins.
On the way, we passed the Livingstone House , of "Dr. Livingstone-I-Presume" fame. It's
a tall red-roofed building with rows of shuttered windows that now serves as a tourist office but was first the house of a Sultan back around 1860, and then the starting point of the adventures of many missionaries and explorers. Dr. David Livingstone lived here before beginning his famous last trip into Africa's mainland.
Later on we briefly explore the Marhubi Palace ruins, which are the crumbled remains of where a sultan had "many com-fort-able times with the ladies", Ali informs us with a wink.
It burned down accidentally in 1899 and was used by the sultan's secondary wives. It was so ruined that it was hard to imagine what the palace might actually have been like, but one thing is for certain: it did not suffer from lack of bathrooms. Everywhere you looked, there were the remains of enormous stone pools and sunken tubs.
"Oh yes", said Ali, "And all the bathrooms were...ensuite". (nudge nudge, wink wink )
The Marhubi ruins were also notable for a rather pretty lily pond, a nearby nest of ginger and white kittens, an abundance of palm trees on the grounds, and a domed roof in one section of the building where sunlight poured magnificently through the circular holes in the roof onto...a dead bat being eaten by ants.
Back in our mini-vans, we all headed out of Stonetown toward the Marhubi ruins.
On the way, we passed the Livingstone House , of "Dr. Livingstone-I-Presume" fame. It's
a tall red-roofed building with rows of shuttered windows that now serves as a tourist office but was first the house of a Sultan back around 1860, and then the starting point of the adventures of many missionaries and explorers. Dr. David Livingstone lived here before beginning his famous last trip into Africa's mainland.Later on we briefly explore the Marhubi Palace ruins, which are the crumbled remains of where a sultan had "many com-fort-able times with the ladies", Ali informs us with a wink.
It burned down accidentally in 1899 and was used by the sultan's secondary wives. It was so ruined that it was hard to imagine what the palace might actually have been like, but one thing is for certain: it did not suffer from lack of bathrooms. Everywhere you looked, there were the remains of enormous stone pools and sunken tubs.
"Oh yes", said Ali, "And all the bathrooms were...ensuite". (nudge nudge, wink wink )
The Marhubi ruins were also notable for a rather pretty lily pond, a nearby nest of ginger and white kittens, an abundance of palm trees on the grounds, and a domed roof in one section of the building where sunlight poured magnificently through the circular holes in the roof onto...a dead bat being eaten by ants.
posted by Spider Girl | 7:18 PM
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