Pictures from Maputo

Pictures from walking tour of the city. As you can tell, the downtown of Maputo is small. The big building in the first picture is the tallest building in the city. Some pictures are from a small fort in the middle of the city. It is now a memorial to various people and wars. We came across it as they were setting up for some sort of program for the Mozambican Independence Day. There are many streets named after notorious dictators. You don't see this often! We spent some time at the train station, which isn't used often anymore. It had the feel of something from long ago. The Cathedral is deemed "the ugliest buidling" in the city. I didn't think it was ugly, but apparently its past is ugly. Women who were not virgins were forced to labor in the construction as their punishment. We didn't go inside, because a priest was standing outside and we thought that meant service was either starting or just ending. The thing you cannot miss when walking around the city is the trash and broken glass bottles everywhere. Also, the roads and sidewalks are difficult to maneuver and are in need of repair. I tripped numerous times and not just due to my normal clumsiness. You can click on each picture to see a larger version.