Lomé is the capital of Togo and the main city of the country. This country was mainly inhabited by the Ewé tribe, a tribe that was forced to sign an agreement with the Germans in 1884 for their territory to become part of their protectorate. The Germans imported cocoa, coffee and cotton, and in return allowed the construction of an infrastructure network that is still maintained in the country today. However, after World War I and the defeat of the Germans, this region was split in two: the western part (Volta region) would be part of England, which already had the territory of present-day Ghana, and the eastern part (Lomé and Togoville) would be part of France. This eastern part is what we know today as Togo and Lomé is its main city.

One of Lomé’s main attractions is its Grand Marché, the largest open-air market in the country. There, you can see thousands of stalls of very varied objects, where the African fabrics marketed by women known as Mama Benz stand out. This market is located right next to the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a church of Gothic architecture with very characteristic colors and that stands out from the hustle and bustle of people and merchandise that we find in the market.

Lomé is a coastal city, which has one of the most important trading ports in West Africa. Its beaches may not stand out for their beauty, but it is the livelihood of many fishermen who work in its waters. In addition, in Lomé we also find a large presence of voodoo religion with one of the largest fetish markets in West Africa, the Akodessewa market, where more than 20,000 objects are exhibited that are sold by those who practice the different rituals of voodoo. A visit that will surely not leave you indifferent.

The slave trade during the nineteenth century also had its presence in the Lomé area, with the Maison des Slaves d’Agbodrafo, a place that you can visit to see the last stop made by slaves before embarking for the New World. Today, this town on the outskirts of Lomé stands out for being a fishing town from where you can see how the fishermen who go out to sea or who fish with their small canoes on Lake Togo work on a daily basis.

Lomé is a city of just under two million inhabitants that can be visited in a few days and where you can enjoy different activities and a lot of local life. We were lucky enough to stay through Couchsurfing with a couple from there, Louis and Martine, with whom we were invited to a wedding, went to see how Louis’ brother negotiated a dowry with the girl’s family, attended Martine’s brother’s Ph.D. party at college and enjoyed the day-to-day life of a bustling city but smaller than neighbouring Accra and Cotonou.

How to get there?

Lomé is located right by the sea, in the southern part of the country, connected a few hours from Cotonou, Benin, and right next to the border with Ghana (Aflao). Being the capital of the country, from here the main means of transport depart to the different regions of Togo.

In Lomé, we find the most important airport in the country from where flights arrive from Europe, mainly from France and Belgium. From there, there is also a plane to Kara, the most important city in the north of the country.

However, the main way to get to the country is in some of the taxis shared in vans or in the bus companies such as Nagode Transport (here you can access their website) that makes tours between the main cities of the country. As in many African cities, the departure and arrival of these buses takes place on the outskirts of the city and in the departure areas depending on the direction you are going. For example, if you go to Kpalimé or Aflao, the main buses and taxis leave from the west of the city. On the other hand, if you go to Benin, the main transports leave from the east of the city.

From Lomé you can go to Kpalimé on a two-hour journey by shared taxi (it cost us 2,500 CFA per person). You can also go north, like Sokodé, on a journey of about 6-7 hours that we did with Nagode Bus for a price of 5,500 CFA. Many of the long bus journeys you make to get to or from the capital will have to be booked one day in advance to ensure that you will have seat availability.

The city of Lomé is a city, which as with many cities in West Africa, has a lot of vehicle traffic, so we recommend that you drive calmly because you will find many vans, cars, taxis and motorcycles (known as Zem) that go totally at your leisure.

What to do in Lomé?

Being the capital of the country, in Lomé you have different activities to do among which we highlight:

– Get lost in the large Lomé market, located in the city center

In Africa, markets are the city’s landmarks. And Lomé is no exception. The large Lomé market, also known as Grand Marché, is located right in the city centre, very close to the sea and next to Lomé Cathedral, a beautiful architectural building.

Strolling through this large open-air market is one of the activities you will never tire of doing during your stay in the Togolese capital. The market consists of thousands of stalls displayed in the streets of the city center, where thousands of people pass. It is a market with a lot of activity and one of the main economic resources of many local people who do business there.

The market is separated by different sectors according to the type of products they sell. In some places you will find kitchen utensils, clothes, carpentry or the well-known African fabrics. In fact, the sellers of many of the fabric stalls are known by the name of Mama Benz, a name that was given to all those merchants who became rich from the sale of fabric and who today are considered the largest businesswomen in the market. They say that these women, thanks to the wealth obtained from their work, traveled with Mercedes Benz and, therefore, today in many stops you can find Mama Benz or some of her daughters who follow the reins of the business. In the 90s, a film was even made with the name of “Mama Benz: an African market woman” that reflects the figure of these women entrepreneurs. 

We recommend that you try to go up to one of the top floors of one of the buildings that are located in the central streets of the market to be able to see from above the market and the crowds of people who walk through it every day. Plus, you’ll get to see the cathedral and even in the background the waters of the Gulf of Guinea.

In Africa, walking through the markets is a mandatory activity in order to talk to people and enjoy one of the experiences that we liked the most: walking, observing and interacting with local people who, on a daily basis, earn their living selling or buying at the market.

– Visit Lomé Cathedral

Lomé Cathedral is located in the city centre and the Grand Marché. In fact, in all its surrounding streets you will find stalls that are part of this great market that we have described in the previous point. It will be almost impossible to take a photograph of the cathedral without a person loaded with merchandise, a market stall or local people walking around.

Lomé Cathedral has an architectural design very different from the cathedrals we are used to seeing in Europe. It was built in just over a year (April 1901 to September 1902) by Germany’s colonial authorities (yes, Togo was also part of Germany. If you want to see some more curiosities of the country, you can click here).

From an architectural point of view, this cathedral is inspired by the European Gothic cathedrals that we can find in different towns in central Europe. In fact, they say it is inspired by the church of Steyl, a small Dutch village where the first missionaries who settled in the Togolese capital in 1892 came from.

The façade of this cathedral, known as the Sacred Heart of Jesus, stands out for its polychrome of ochre and blue colors that gives the building a very particular style, from which two twin towers stand out where we find the two bell towers of the church. This church was visited by Pope John Paul II during August 1985, and today you can still see photographs and posters of this visit outside the church.

The curious style of this cathedral with the fact that it is in the middle of the largest market in the country means that you can not miss its visit if you are going to take a walk through the center of Lomé, where you can enjoy unique architectural examples and a frenetic activity between the different stops of the Grand Marché, located around the cathedral.

– Strolling along Lomé Beach

A few minutes from the cathedral and the Grand Marché, you can find the beach of the city of Lomé where you will see the old pier built by the Germans that is almost destroyed. Like most beaches on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, we do not recommend that you bathe as there are strong marine currents and, in addition, in this one you are right in the center of the capital and therefore, you will be very much in the public exhibition.

What you can do on the beach of Lomé is walk there to see the fishermen preparing the nets, see small families and couples lying on the sand or watch how a boat enters the sand being pulled by dozens of people while others are waiting to see the fish that has been caught. In fact, you can see this last scene on many beaches, such as, for example, we could see in the Agbodrafo area.

If you look at the horizon, you will probably also find many ships that transport containers and are waiting to enter the port, one of the most important commercial ports in West Africa. The image is not very beautiful in terms of landscape, but it is the reality of what you will see in this area where dozens of merchant ships leave and enter every day.

At an environmental level, the beach does not stand out for being very clean, since you will find a lot of plastic on the sand. The German pier is almost destroyed and makes the scene decadent. A place where a few years ago there was a frenetic activity of ships that transported people and goods from Europe to this African country, and that today has become the gateway to one of the most spectacular markets on the west coast of Africa.

– Visit one of West Africa’s largest fetish markets

The Akodessewa Fetish Market is one of the largest voodoo-related markets you’ll find in Africa. This market serves as a pharmacy for thousands of believers who believe in voodoo, a religion that we were able to discover in Benin in towns like Abomey (if you want to know more you can click here).

During our visit there, we were able to meet different local people who went to the different market stalls to look for some of the objects that the voodoo priest had recommended to them in order to solve some of their problems. Despite many people’s view of voodoo as black magic, this animistic and polytheistic religion goes far beyond anything related to esotericism. Priests are like doctors who prescribe a potion in order to carry out a ritual that can cure the faithful of their problem. Obviously, they are forbidden to use voodoo in order to ask for bad actions, and there are many believers who go to this market in search of medicines prescribed by different voodoo priests.

To access this market as a tourist you have to pay an entrance fee that includes the right to take photographs, and also a guide who can explain all the curiosities you have about the voodoo religion. In 2022, the ticket price was 3,000 CFA per person and the guide cost was 2,000 CFA in total.

In this market you will find objects such as stuffed animals, animal skins, amulets. In addition, there are different priest stalls that cater to all those who cross with voodoo and have a need. During your guided tour, you can enter some of these places and talk to a priest to explain the different rituals they have. A totally different experience that you can find in different fetish markets in Benin and Togo. 

– Visit Agbodrafo and the Maison des Slaves, one of the end points of the slave route in this region of Togo

Agbodrafo is a town located 30 kilometres east of Lomé, heading towards the Benin border. This town, formerly called Porto Seguro, was one of the key points in the slave trade in this region. There, there was the house, known as Maison des Slaves, where the different enslaved people who came from the interior before departing on ships for the New World were stored.

The cost of admission to the Maison des Slaves is 2,000 CFA per person. You can access some of the rooms and some of the doors that were buried so that the slaves crawled like animals. From there, you can also walk until you reach the beach area following the same route that thousands of slaves did hundreds of years ago.

Nowadays, on the beach you can see different groups of fishermen who collect the boats that come from the sea, prepare the nets or manage the fish caught among buyers who arrive at the sea with buckets to fill them with fish. Around them, there are different villages where these fishermen and their families live, so during your tour you will probably find many children who will follow you curious.

Near Agbodrafo we also find Lake Togo where one of the most historic cities in the country, Togoville, is located. There, there is a Catholic cathedral on the site where the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared, and also one of the most important ritual centers of voodoo, where many priests go for training. You can take a canoe tour of the lake and enjoy how the fishermen cast their nets standing on their canoes and the landscape of this region of Togo that borders Benin. If you don’t have time to see the art of Lake Togo fishermen’s fishing, we recommend you do so in Grand Popo, Benin (to see our experience, click here).

This region, along with Ouidah of Benin (if you want to know more  click here) or Cape Coast of Ghana (to see our experience click here), is one of the regions where the slave trade was most important. Despite its dark history, it is currently a town located very close to the border with Benin that lives, mainly, from fishing.

Where to sleep in Lomé?

We were at Louis and Martine’s house that we contacted through Couchsurfing, so we cannot advise firsthand any accommodation in the capital. In any case, after doing an Internet search we can indicate that the ones with the best references are:

– Hotel Aurore: This small hotel offers about twenty options for sleeping. The rooms are simple and clean and there is also a restaurant. Prices between 18 and 30 euros per night. For more information, you can contact them at +228 90 43 44 44.

– Hotel Galion: This hotel is located near the border with Ghana and about 2 kilometers from the city center and the cathedral. A few meters from the beach, room prices range from 7,000 to 25,000 CFA per night, depending on the type of room you choose. For more information, you can enter their website here.

Our route

DAY 1: After making a stop in Sokodé during our public transport route from Kara, in the north of the country, we took a Nagode bus to get to Lomé during the afternoon. The journey would be between 6-7 hours traveling on the main road (the N1) that crosses Togo from north to south. It is a busy road by trucks whose final destination is the port of Lomé and that carry goods from other countries such as Burkina Faso.

The first part of the journey was entertaining, crossing small villages on both sides of the main road where, from time to time, we saw a truck stopped on the shoulder of the road due to technical problems. From time to time, we made a stop at an esplanade in a town to pick up passengers and to go to the toilet. These stalls suddenly became a street market with children and women bringing groceries and food and selling them from the window or from the bus corridor itself. Some carried fruit in a basket that was held over the vendor’s head, while others had their hands full of ropes from which to hold the different supplies and utensils that may be needed during a trip, such as USB charger or belts.

Once we arrived in Atakpamé, the last big city before arriving in Lomé and which is about 3 hours from the capital, we wrote to Louis and Martine on Whatsapp. Our hosts would be waiting for us at the bus station. Louis and Martine are a Togolese couple that we contacted through the Couchsurfing website. The first contact we made with them was in order to get a transit visa, since Togo was closed due to the Covid issue. Through Louis, we could apply for a visa to the transit-only police (2-3 days) in order to cross the country and reach Ghana. It was an option that we contemplated considering the situation of the pandemic in different countries of the African west coast.

We processed this transit visa, but when we were already in Benin we received good news from Togo. The country had decided to open its borders and was already open to international tourists, so we did not need this visa and could extend our stay in this country. For this reason, we decided to cross the border through the north of Benin since from Kara we could obtain the tourist visa to stay, at most, one month in the country. Thanks to Couchsurfing, we found a fantastic couple who welcomed us as if we were from their family in their home. We were already looking forward to getting to Lomé after this long day of road drive!

When Google Maps told us that there was an hour left to get to Lomé, suddenly the bus stopped. In front of us was a large row of trucks and vehicles also stopped that were not advancing. We did not know what was happening but from the bus they already told us that there would surely have been an accident, and being a one-lane road we would have to wait. And when you wait in Africa, you often don’t know how long it will be…

We stood for a long time that we did not advance, and in the other lane no vehicles came either, a sign that the road must have been cut off in both directions. We warned Louis and Martine, who told us to notify them when we entered Lomé so they would leave the house since they had the station about 10 minutes from home, and we saw how the day went out and it got dark from the top of the bus. After a couple of hours of waiting, we managed to start and move forward little by little. Indeed, the reason for so much waiting was an accident of a truck that had left the road and part of the goods had remained on the asphalt. 

We arrived in Lomé at night, and those streets seemed very quiet. With houses of a few stories on either side, shops and businesses, and very few vehicles on the road, it looked like one of the quietest West African cities we’d ever seen, so far. At the bus station, Louis was waiting for us, a boy who is dedicated to photography and who likes to be able to receive travelers at home to talk with them and see the world. We got into his car and followed the main street until we broke through dirt side streets until we reached his house.

Louis and Martine’s house was a two-bedroom house, which they shared a courtyard with other other families’ homes. To enter, you had to enter through the yard and then everyone entered their own house. The first room was where they had the dining room, living room, cupboards, fridge and a stove kitchen, and the second room was where the bed where Louis and Martine slept. The sink and shower were at the back of the yard.

We met Martine who was pregnant and was expecting a baby girl who still had no name. And we shared the first dinner with them talking about the trip and our route to Togo. At bedtime, despite our insistence, they told us that they would sleep in the dining room, and that we should stay in their room. Another example of the African hospitality we had found in so many places on the continent.

We fell asleep immediately, after such a long day of travel and wanting to discover the capital of Togo with a local couple. We were told that we would not do much as a tourist, because we had to go to a wedding, to university to accompany Martine’s brother to present his PhD, and to see how Louis’ brother and his family negotiated the dowry with his girlfriend’s family so they could get married. We were delighted that Louis and Martine took us to discover more experiences in Africa!

DAY 2: We woke up slowly, had breakfast and stayed in the dining room for a while chatting with Martine. Speaking French helped us establish a strong bond with them. He told us that, soon, they would move into another house because with the girl they wanted more space, and after spending a good time in the yard of the house, Louis appeared and we left for the first stop of the day: medical university.

There, Martine’s brother was presenting her PhD, so we drove to the university parking lot where we met Martine’s family and, like some others, climbed the stairs to the second floor of the university. There, many students went up and down with notes in hand. Some had exams, others had oral presentations, others looked at the corks at the results of some tests that had come out, and others arrived late for class.

Martine’s brother was already inside doing the PhD presentation, so we waited outside. We brought some bags with large bottles of Coca-Cola and some snacks to celebrate his PhD. They explained what it was about, but we, inexperienced in the field, could not remember at all the subject of the doctorate. We went for a walk around the venue and, as a curiosity, we saw that Pfizer (which at that time we knew from the subject of Covid vaccines) had financed a bust of Hippocrates that was in the center of the building. At least, we did remember that Pfizer name!

After a while, Martine’s brother came out with a smile on his lips. The exhibition had gone very well, so now it was time to celebrate. We ate together in college, on a kind of impromptu picnic; and in the afternoon, we went with Louis for a walk around the capital of Lomé.

On the way to the center, we took the opportunity to stop at the Independence Monument, located in an open and very quiet square where there were other local people who must have come from different regions of Togo taking photographs. Afterwards, we returned to the car and drove towards the vicinity of the cathedral, with the difficult task of looking for parking on some esplanade in the area where a guard watched the cars in exchange for some coins.

We got out of the car and went into a street where we began to see different stalls of household items and a crowd of people passing by us leaving the market. When we took the main street that went towards the cathedral, there we saw the market in all its splendor. Stalls with colorful umbrellas, open businesses, carts trying to pass between people occupying the center of the street and shouts and shouts that were heard on both sides. The aroma and soundtrack of the Lomé market, known as Grand Marché, welcomed us with open arms.

In the background, you could see two towers with two bell ringers and a façade of an ochre and brown hue that stood out from the hundreds of heads in front of us. It was the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which was right next to the great market. We entered and visited inside, where it stood out for its simplicity and luminosity. Inside, dozens of people were silent while outside, hundreds of people sang the characteristic hustle and bustle of an African market.

As we left the cathedral, we continued taking a walk around the market. Now, for the fabric section where we could see the well-known Mama Benz, corpulent women, series and with character who have made a name for themselves in the market for their good business with fabrics. Then, we moved through an everyday clothing area until we saw a door where people were entering and leaving. We sensed that this entrance would take us upstairs, and so it was…

We went up and from above, we could have a good view of the thousands of stalls and all the people moving like little ants, while we saw the cathedral on one side, and on the other, far away on the horizon, the sea. We would have spent hours up there watching the day go on at that market in Lomé, but Louis wanted to show us the old German pier, so we went down and walked towards the sea.

We left the market behind, with the controlling gaze of Louis who had told us from the beginning to watch out for pockets and bags as there were quite a few thieves, although at no point did we feel unsafe. And we reached the sea, a sea moved by the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. We walked along the sand until we reached a pier that was almost destroyed and that the Germans had made to disembark the ships in the city of Lomé. Today, some couples were lying in different parts of the beach and some families played in a very urban setting, with cars passing along the waterfront and merchant ships waiting at sea to enter the commercial port of Lomé.

We headed back to Louis’ car and after paying the guard we went to his house. Martine was waiting for us and we decided to walk to a bar on a dirt esplanade where some young people played football on a makeshift field. We had a few beers and were told that the next day we were invited to a wedding, and that we would have to demonstrate our dancing skills there. We, convinced, said that there would be no problem and that, in addition, we would dress up and bring the African dresses that Euloge had given us in Benin. They laughed and we went home where we lay in bed while watching the final of Eufòria on TV3, a program that we had not followed but when we saw that it was the grand finale, we saw it while the night in Lomé was advancing waiting for a new dawn.

DAY 3: We woke up with the same tranquility as the day before. Unhurriedly, Louis and Martine were looking at their cell phones and we were there waiting, to see when we would leave for the wedding. In Africa, things are done slowly and the pace is much more different from what we are used to living in Europe.

We left well moved and drove for a while until we reached a church where the wedding had already begun. Inside, there were many people, including different choirs singing, friends, family and curious people like us who came to see the ceremony. Everyone was invited to enter, while two spiritual guides read Bonanova and the bride and groom watched every detail of the ceremony.

If African masses stand out for having lots of music, imagine a wedding! Music appeared at every moment and people stood up and danced from the bench. New attendees were arriving who greeted us timidly as we were the only whites in the venue. The priestly guides were also increasing their tone of voice, and in the end, even if we did not speak their language, it seemed that we could understand them. They shouted and repeated different words. What cries there were in that church!

Then there was a moment where the bride and groom got up and groups of people began to get up bringing different gifts and details for the protagonists of the party. The wedding was quite an experience to watch, and the dresses people wore were amazing. A lot of cloth, many colors and many smiles were erected in that church on the outskirts of Lomé. In the end, all the attendees went to greet the bride and groom and we agreed that in the afternoon and evening we would go with them to the party, to dance and eat in a small place in the city.

Louis and Martine wanted to show us one of the best-known tourist corners of Lomé: the Akodessewa fetish market. It is one of the largest voodoo markets in Africa, although when we arrived we saw that it was different stalls in a square where different voodoo parishioners go to get the different objects that voodoo priests prescribe in order to connect with their ancestors or solve their problems.

After paying the ticket, we went for a walk through the different stops with Christophe, one of the guides of the enclosure and who explained different questions about voodoo that were almost the same as those we had been told in Benin. As we entered a stall, we could see how some local bought a stuffed animal while the other vendors were outside chatting.

Stuffed animals, bones, birds, stones and an immense variety of unimaginable objects were on the tables of the different wooden stands. In one, Christophe encouraged us to enter and see the ritual performed by a voodoo priest, who very kindly explained the usefulness of his work and how he performed different ceremonies in an enclosed space of a few square meters. They told us if we wanted him to do something for us, but we ruled it out; so we went out and finished going around Lomé’s fetish market.

In the afternoon, we went with Louis’ car to a small place with white plastic chairs and different tables. It looked like a private house that had been adapted to host a big party. Proof of this were the large speakers that stood on both sides, and the white and blue fabrics that covered different chairs and an area where it seemed that the bride and groom would sit.

After talking to the people around and having a few beers, the bride and groom arrived very cofois but tired of this intense day. People greeted them in shouts and then they started making a kind of speeches. Once all this protocol was finished, they started taking out food and we settled down with some round tables as we wanted. Obviously, beer was never missing from the table…

People were cheering and the music sounded louder and louder, until the first dancers began to appear and with them, we got up from the table and began to dance in our African costumes. We could not compare ourselves with how the locals danced, from the smallest to the oldest, but we did have a very good time moving our hips, making ups and downs with the legs despite Martine’s belly that was already quite fat, singing the Nigerian songs that played everywhere,  watching the beer take its toll more and more and enjoying a great time at a wedding that we never imagined we would witness. These are some of the great experiences that travel takes you. And we were very lucky to be able to share it with great hosts like Louis and Martine.

DIA 4: This was the third day in Lomé and again, we woke up not knowing what that day would bring. The slowness of getting into dance was becoming more and more exaggerated, but we came from an evening where we had moved our legs like never before and were still quite stingy and a little numb.

Today it was time to attend a family ceremony for Louis’ brother. We had to go to his brother’s partner’s house because, there, the negotiation of the dowry would take place. It appears that Louis’ entire family had to introduce themselves to the girl’s family and offer something in exchange for her marrying Louis’ brother. Although this may seem like the year of the itch, some people in Kenya had told us that they had also done so by giving cows to the family, but today we would be there in the negotiation itself.

We arrived in the vicinity of the girl’s family home, and waited for the whole family to arrive to enter together and wait for us in the courtyard where some chairs were already placed. We sat in the back, as only Louis’ brother, his father and uncle sat in front of us. It was the men who carried the negotiating voice of the price they would have to pay.

After greeting each other, we noticed that the girl was not there yet. And suddenly from one of the rooms a girl appeared covered in a handkerchief who presented herself to the men of the family and left again in another room. She would be the main reason for the business and now it was time to agree on a price that would satisfy her family.

As we watched the men chat more and more energetically and take out bags with drinks as an offering, we talked softly to Louis and Martine. We commented that these traditions, in our house, were totally unimaginable, since to be with a girl or a boy it was not necessary to ask permission or negotiate a price with the family. Martine told us that she totally agreed and that she did not want to experience this ceremony, but Louis reminded her that these are traditions that her grandparents and parents have done and that they should not lose it. In fact, everyone there knew that what they were doing was like a theatrical performance because Louis’ brother would end up marrying that girl, but it was very important in order to symbolize that tradition is not being lost.

After a long time of shouting, threats that the girl would not return, and laughter, a brother from Louis’ family showed up with more bags of drinks and the negotiators put all the cards on his desk. In the end, they accepted the deal and the girl who was still covered under a handkerchief reappeared. The girl’s father took off his handkerchief to show Louis’ brother and his family that she was the girl he loved, and that’s where the whole ceremony of negotiating the dowry ended.

The girl was able to take off her headscarf and hug Louis’ brother shyly and then we all had lunch there in the same courtyard to celebrate that two people had agreed to get married that day. And they had done it following an ancestral tradition…

After lunch, we went for a walk around Lomé and headed back home to Louis and Martine. Louis loved football, he followed the Spanish league because he was a big Real Madrid fan, and there was a game that night. The game was not for Madrid, but for Girona who played in Tenerife in a decisive match: if they won they were promoted to the First Division. So, from a small dining room in a neighborhood of Lomé we could follow the football match and see how Girona win 1-3 in Tenerife and celebrate that it was returning to the most important league of Spanish football. It seemed unbelievable that we had experienced a negotiation on the dowry that day, and in the evening, thanks to new technologies, we were watching Girona from a house in Lomé. Tradition and modernity together hand in hand…

DAY 5: The morning of that day was not so different from the other mornings that we had woken up at Louis and Martine’s house. It may even be slower and all… We woke up from our room, and went to the dining room where they were already awake. We’d have some toast for breakfast and chat with them there until we decided what the plan was. Today it was time to visit an area far from Lomé where a tragic history related to slavery was lived… And it is that in this region a few centuries ago there was one of the most important slave trades in the world.

Our destination would be Agbodrafo, a town located about 30 kilometers from the city. We drove along the road that passes by the sea. There, we stopped in an area where there were many people on the beach… It turns out that some boats were arriving with fresh fish, so it was time to roll up their sleeves and help get the boat into the sand, despite the strong swell there. The boat was stopped, with the engine raised so that it would not touch the ground; while a group of men and boys formed an Indian row and pulled hard ropes that were tied to the boat. In this way, it was getting closer until it was totally on the beach. The movement of people pulling the rope was an incredible synchronized exercise to watch.

Once the boat reached dry land, the fishermen showed the fish and the buyers, with crowbars and buckets, decided on the fish to catch and took it carrying it on their heads or shoulders. At one point, a large market had formed while next door, fishermen were fixing nets. They would be the next to set sail out to sea in search of more fish, one of the main resources that Lomé and, in general, Africa have.

We got back in the car and kept moving forward. Just before arriving at Agbodrafo, we could see a piece of Lake Togo on our left. Beyond, there was the town of Togoville, the oldest city in the country. We, however, turned right and headed for the Maison des Slaves.

In the nineteenth century a house was built in Agbodrafo where the slaveholders who directed the slave trade lived. Below its rooms, a basement approximately 1.50 meters high was the refuge of thousands of slaves before leaving behind their land and continent. There, we saw how it was impossible to stand up, and we imagined, terribly, the subhuman conditions in which the people passing through the basement of that house lived.

Today, this house is a small museum that tries to recall the tragic history lived thousands of slaves who came from the interior of Togo, Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger or Nigeria during the slave trade that took place between the European powers and the different African tribal groups.

After the visit of this house, we advanced towards the sea which was about 3 kilometers away. There, we parked next to a village from which the gaze of some curious child protruded. In front of us, we had towering palm trees that covered the force of the waves of the sea. We walked around with the sound of waves and wind, and took the opportunity to take a souvenir photo with Louis and Martine.

As it was the last day, we decided to be a tourist and went to a restaurant located on the seafront between Agbodrafo and Lomé and invite Louis and Martine to have some drinks and eat a good shawarma. That afternoon, in front of the sea, was a quiet afternoon in good company, while we looked at the sea and the strong waves and imagined the number of fishermen who would be on the high seas trying to earn a living. The sea, which was the final destination for many slaves who passed through the Maison des Slaves, and which today is the main source of wealth for many Togolese families.

DAY 6: Today it was time to say goodbye to our hosts, Louis and Martine. We had spent four full days with them and had lived experiences that we never imagined living. We were very grateful for all their hospitality and, today, thanks to technology we are still in touch with them. We know that the girl Martine carried in her belly was born on 9^th August 2022 and that they named her Laïa, with diaeresis. A name that they really liked to hear from our visit with them.

We made one last trip in Louis’ car, which left us on the outskirts of Lomé towards Kpalimé, the next destination on the way to Ghana. From Lomé we would take a shared taxi to go to a hiking region, waterfalls and mountains… We went from the city to a rural area, while leaving behind a couple of friends who had literally opened the doors of their house to us and with them we had spent some fantastic days in the quiet city of Lomé. Thanks Louis and Martine!