A QUICK GUIDE FOR A NEWCOMER: LIBREVILLE

I've been telling you quite a lot about our travels around the country and by now you should definitely know where to go if you happen to visit Gabon. But what about Libreville, the very city in which we spend most of our time? You can definitely have fun here, too. Let me guide you through my favourite, unmissable places in the ville.

Go for a walk!
As in any city, there are places where you shouldn't wander, especially if you're white and on your own. But Libreville is rather safe and you should definitely explore parts of it on foot. It is a bit intimidating at first but don't get discouraged! The Luis neighbourhood with its small shops and restaurants is very recommendable. On your way to the centre you will be stunned by the huge Presidential Palace (remember not to take pictures!) and the strange statue in front of it. You might also find interesting the huge ministry buildings. Sablière will give you an insight to what the posh part of the city is like, while in the city centre, always full of life and traffic, you can have nice coffee and walk around undisturbed.

Go to church!
Oh yes, excellent idea, not only from the spiritual point of view. But not just any church! You should definitely take a trip to Saint Michel de N'kembo, probably the only example of interesting architecture in the city. It has dozens of beautifully sculpted columns, which represent scenes from the Bible. The mosaic with a black Christ is also worth noting. And the mass itself with its singing and dancing is a must! Even if going to church isn't usually your thing.

Go shopping!
Libreville offers a wide range of places to do just that. Personally, I would suggest Petit Paris and the Mount Buet market. The former is the place if what you're looking for is pagne, the typical African-style material, which, by the way, you should totally get and then go straight to a good tailor and have some clothes made to measure. It's an amazing souvenir and it can be done in a couple of days! Straight from Petit Paris you should head for Mount Buet and just take a walk: fruit, shoes, pagne, meat, clothes, soap, make-up, hairdressers, plates, machetes... and more. Everything can be found in Mount Buet. Trust me. If, however, you're looking for a less extreme shopping experience, take a taxi to the Village Artesanal and haggle to buy souvenirs, or to one of the three supermarkets: M'bolo (which is actually a French Casino), Geant CKdo or the Libanese Prix Import. It will give you an idea of what you can get in Libreville and for how much. Be ready for a real price shock!

Go out!
Libreville, unlike any other African capital, is full of restaurants and clubs. The choice is stunning. You can start by having coffee at Pelisson, a bakery and coffee house, which serves horrible coffee on an absolutely lovely colonial terrace (the fresh pineapple juice is to die for, though!). If you feel like decent coffee in less appealing surroundings, you might choose the Libanese La Genoise, which also has fantastic cakes. And don't forget the Tropicana, located at the beach, definitely worth a visit. For lunch, we usually choose a cheap Libanese restaurant (Les Arcades or L'Emir are equally good) or the absolute king of African kebabs, l'Embuscade. And for dinner... take a walk around Montée de Luis, which is absolutely full of restaurants and discos. Chinese, Italian, European (you might forget you're in Africa altogether), Libanese, African but posh, African but cheap... your call! I personally recommend Mississipi or L'Odika for a pleasant African experience nicely packaged for tourists (it has its price, though), or the famous Jean Paul II, for those of you who are more resistant to the general lack of hygiene in the kitchen.

Go to the beach!
Libreville's location couldn't be better. The whole province is actually called l'Estuaire, and the city is right at the seaside. You might want to take a walk on the urban beach and end up having a drink at Tropicana. You could also go to the very end of the Sablière neighbourhood, and have a Coke on the beach at the SunSetBeach hotel. Here the water is clean enough to have a quick bath and as a special bonus you might see fishermen selling their catch in the morning. For a real beach experience you should take a 30-minute boat ride from Port Môle and relax at the lovely beaches of Pointe Denis, where you can also spend the night in one of the luxurious hotels (Wingombe, Phare de Gombe or La Baie des Tortues to name a few).

Go cultural!
If you're extremely lucky, you might actually find the notoriously closed Museum of Arts and Traditions... open. Don't put it off, then, go right in! It's your only chance to see their - usually extremely well hidden - collection of masks. For more cultural experiences, get La Lettre or an event programme of the French Cultural Centre. Every Tuesday at 20:30 there is a film but that's not all - the Centre is actually very active, so don't miss any of their concerts, theatre plays or dance festivals. Not to mention the library, cafeteria and cheap Internet access.

Well, I hope you're ready to explore the city now. And to those of you who actually live in Libreville: what are your favourite places? What did I miss?

TAILORED TO YOUR NEEDS

A few weeks ago we went to a place called Petit Paris, the place to go if what you’re looking for is pagne, material. We are always very eager to have some African clothes made and so we went to the same shop we had visited back in April. The place is overwhelming - so many different designs to choose from – and it took us quite a long time to make the decision. In the end, Jandro went for a very masculine khaki/bottle green/dark orange, while I fell in love with pink and dark green. We paid 3500 CFA each (around 5 euros) and all we needed now was a tailor.

We asked around and consequently discovered the atelier of a man by the name of Dialo. A friend gave us precise directions: You know the restaurant Chez Gorge? Ok. You know the roast chicken stand nearby? Ok. Turn right after the chickens. We did, and stumbled upon a kind of a garage with sewing machines, materials and a man sitting in the middle.

- Hello. We are looking for Dialo.

- I am Dialo.

- Are you a tailor?

- Yes. How do you know my name?

- You were recommended by E., our Belgian friend.

- I don’t know her.

- Oh.

- But don’t leave. I will call my brother.

- But we are looking for Dialo… What’s his name?

- Dialo.

Right. E. had warned us this might happen. Another man came by and indeed his name was Dialo. Sadly, he also denied knowing E. and we were on our way out when he finally mentioned a Spanish girl that was a direct link to us. We turned back at the sound of her name and immediately demanded two shirts for Jandro and a blouse and a dress for me (I left him my European clothes to copy).

The man called a few days later and told us we could pick up our order. And – wow! – he really did a great job! I absolutely adore the shirt (check out the picture) but the dress needed a bit of trimming. We thus came back to his workshop – a tiny place with three Singer sewing machines, three men corresponding to the latter and a lot of mess. As I was very happy with his work and I still had some of my pink/dark green material left, I ordered another dress. This time I did not, however, bring anything to copy, and I – in French! – demanded to see African designs. They are there on the wall, in the form of posters with numerous pictures of the same big African lady happily wearing different dresses. I pointed to one that I liked (a very simple thing, not typically African) and Dialo took a yellow post-it. He occupied half of it with a minute drawing of the dress and discussed the details with me. Then he measured me, noted down all the numbers on the same post-it, and there it was, all ready. The time came to negotiate the price and I did, in French. It took us around ten minutes and, after he explained in detail why he couldn’t lower the price, he did, from 10000 CFA (15 euros) to 8000.

We are now awaiting the results. In the pictures you can see Jandro in his new shirt (he had two identical shirts made and only because I stopped him from ordering three), me in my gorgeous blouse and me in the dress I had made in April. What do you think? :)

THE MATERIAL

Apart from the church we also went to the Momboue market yesterday. The objective was simple: buy some material for my African dress (I'm having an African dress made for me!:). Sounds simple enough. The problems started when we saw how many different designs there were to choose from (see second picture).

You see, few women out here wear Western clothes and when they do, they are not nice clothes mostly. However, it is extremely common (and cheap) to buy the material you like and just have a dress or an outfit made to measure. And the ladies look amazing! The frocks are great and usually accompanied by a headscarf which makes them look graceful and even more beautiful. We thus went to the market and entered a couple of stalls, until in one of them (a very big one) we narrowed the choice down to three. The effect you can see in the picture.

Some of the materials are really out there, I must admit. It is common to have a dress with the pattern of Virgin Mary, Jesus or President Bongo. Not to mention maps of Africa or Gabon. Some of them had wise statements printed on them ("Every day brings a problem") and other ones just hearts and romatic inscriptions such as "Toi et moi". I went for a very mundane design, didn´t I?

After we bought the material, we asked the shop owner if we could take a picture of his lovely shop. He said yes and, after I took a couple of pictures, he demanded: "Moi aussi!". So he posed for me and I took his picture as well.

There was one more very interesting thing we saw in that shop. Apparently, when a couple gets married out here, they choose a material and all guests are supposed to wear outfits made of that material. So all shops are full of material samples with couple's names pinned to them. You just go and get a few yards of the material chosen and use it the way you like. Solves the "I have nothing to wear to Dagmara's wedding" problem, doesn´t it?