Cape Coast
Cape Coast might be the former capital city, but when held up against Accra, it’s the very picture of serenity.
Cape Coast might be the former capital city, but when held up against Accra, it’s the very picture of serenity. You’ll need to look elsewhere for your endless traffic jams. This isn’t to say it doesn’t feel lived in, but the atmosphere here is more redolent of a coastal community than a big, bad metropolis. Pastel-hued fishing boats fringe the beaches, groups of schoolkids trip along in the sunshine and dinky shops and houses create a through-the-ages architectural mishmash. Past the lagoons on the edge of town, meanwhile, are some of the most enticing swathes of beach in the country.
All of which makes it unsurprising that Cape Coast is such a tourist draw. The centre is an appealing place in which to watch and wander – particularly down by the crescent-shaped harbour – but while there’s an intoxicating feel to the pace of life here, it also has a sharply sobering history. You’ll most likely be aware of Cape Coast Castle already (Barack and Michelle Obama visited in 2009 to much fanfare) – it was here that some of the worst atrocities of the slave trade era were committed. The city was founded by the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the solid white bulk of the castle acted first as a fortified base for overseeing the export of gold and other goods before ‘market forces’ initiated a move into human trafficking.
