Hotel Ivoire

Once the centre of Cote d'Ivoire's rich cultural heritage, the West of  the country, now governed by military groups or "rebels" operating under the banner Forces Nouvelles (A political grouping includes three military groups ...

... the plane was going on to Conakry and Dakar. Formalities went quickly; there is no need for a visa in Côte d'Ivoire - that's a pleasant change from the nearby countries that make you pay through the nose for the privilege of visiting their dysfunctional ...

... arrived. In the meanwhile I talked with an off-duty security agent who was leaning on the desk. He asked why I was in Côte d'Ivoire and what the weather was like at the origin of my trip. When I said -20 (Centigrade) he had trouble comprehending that. ...

... with the help of songs.  They sang about being Christian soldiers (actually based on what people have been witnessing in Cote d'Ivoire the song came out "commandos for Christ" - I think I may need to discuss that song with Paul...). They sang ...

... of the country) airport one afternoon and we're pick-up by our company shore representative. We stayed one night at Sofitel hotel before joining the ship the next day. The hotel is nice, with friendly staff but unfortunately we are not allowed to leave ...

This morning Paul came to the hotel with Diaby again at 9:30. I checked out, loaded my luggage into the trunk and we drove out to La Mé. The detours around the road work on the outskirts of town were even slower than they had been. People that ...

... the business district are worth spending the money on. And if you really want to go local you can check into the rewly refurbished Hotel Ivoire, which is a sight to see in itself with its ice cream parlour, cinema and bowling alley. Sadly the ice rink, ...

... a mother, apparently begging, with her two children lying a pieces of cardboard at a street corner. I checked in with Air Ivoire, and went through the departure formalities, had a cold beverage in the restaurant, and started reading a very interesting ...

... man, asks about the Sabbath-Sunday question. We also discuss how the Internet can be used effectively in Côte d’Ivoire and the relative merits of the Internet as opposed to printed literature. They love to receive the printed literature and hope ...

... morning, and smoke rose all day. It appeared to move to an adjacent building or buildings, but it never moved my direction. I called Air Ivoire, they assured me the flight would depart Thursday night at 7:45 pm, arriving in Douala a 00:30.  The poor ...

... are all full. The CAA has an air conditioned room free and two rooms with ceiling fans, so those are what were reserved. The hotel has obviously seen better days. This region was hit hard by the civil war, places like this were looted, and they only now ...

... the lobby for an hour. I finally suggested Paul call the driver, who, it turned out, had gone to the other Ibis hotel – a typical communications snafu.  Finally at 9:00 the taxi arrived driven by a tallish driver named Amara. It was the very ...

... a small stream. But by the time we reached that point, the road was passable even very wet, so we made it back to the hotel without trouble. Since I hadn't eaten much, I had Hamed drive me back to the Brioche to see what was on the menu. They have a ...

... before leaving Man. We went back to the Boss for dinner and had the same menu as before. Since one waits an hour for the meal to be cooked it was 9:00 again by the time we returned to the hotel. It will be an early start and another long day ...

... "then that's what would have happened." It's so obvious....  She concludes: "if it had been Air Ivoire's fault, we would have put you up in a hotel, but since you did not make a proper reservation, we are not responsible.  Come back tomorrow at ...