Visiting Ouidah was like stepping into a time machine. It is a city that played a significant role in the transatlantic slave trade and so, has a rich and captivating history. It has an old slave port and the evidence of European inhabitation are littered all over the town.
I was privileged to visit the Badagry and Calabar slave trade centres and to see the colonial buildings in Nembe. Ouidah is a combination of all these attributes.
Calabar
Just as Badagry had the attenuation well, any slave who drank from the charmed water in it was struck with forgetfulness. Ouidah had the tree of forgetfulness too that slaves had to circle round to forget their origin as they journeyed to the New World.
It had a slave market like the Vlekete market in Badagry. There was also a slave route leading to the point of no return.
This is a continuation of part 1. At Ouidah, our first destination was Temple de Python (Python Temple). I didn’t enter 
. Can’t stand the sight of those creatures. Entrance costs 1000F and you can only take one photo.
Like mentioned in the previous post, Benin Republic was very pivotal in Voodoo religion in fact I learnt Ouidah is it’s birthplace.The temple, now a historic site used to be the main temple for voodoo worship in Dahomey of old. You may meet the worshippers and priestesses there when you visit the temple. With some change (500F), they can consult the gods for you 
They release these snakes to go get food every few days, sometimes they enter people’s houses but are harmless.
Now this particular place is very significant because right opposite it, is the Notre Dame Church of Immaculate Conception. It is a Basilica built in neo-Gothic style and was completed in 1909. The major religion in Benin republic now is Christianity. So you have two major historical and religious sites (representing the past and present) facing each other. Isn’t that a wonder?
The basilica with the statue of a Bishop at the top
From there we walked through an alley to the Zinzou Foundation museum. The building was built in 1922 and hosts a restaurant at the bottom.
The courtyard has a mermaid and mermen statue. The statues held snakes, they really love snakes in Ouidah.
Mermaid is at the far end
The tour of the museum is free.
We saw the artifacts and art exhibitions by various artists worldwide. One that was striking was the bridal items (below photo) given to an elderly woman named Ishola Akpo when she was getting married as a young girl. The items are 86 years old!
Then the representation of African hairstyles by a French artist.)
Effigy of Baba Lẹgba (a diety)
A robotic helmet made of cowries.
Bottles of prayers for those who perished in the Mediterranean sea trying to leave (japa) from Africa for Europe. One minute silence!
Met a French tourist, Jean.
Before leaving, we signed out.
You can see more pictures of the museum uploaded here
Unfortunately we had to cut short our journey 
for some reason.
On our way back we bought baguette 
(French bread), rice and their local pineapple juice. You can line the baguette with your preference (egg or sardine or stew). I call it African shawarma.
One half of the bread.
Bikes took us to Kpasse where we boarded a cab back to Cotonou. From there, we took another car to Seme-Krake.
We changed our CFAs back to Naira, returned the SIM card I borrowed and headed back for Nigeria.
We had entered a car to Mile 2 before the first custom officers we met at the first checkpoint asked us to go back because we forgot to stamp our passports at the border on our way out.
Phew!
Got home very exhausted 
but it was a very interesting journey.
Lest I forget, Angelique Kidjo (Wombo Lombo singer) is from Ouidah.
We would love to go back again. Who knows we may stroll into Lome 
. Las fotos muy descriptivas.