The port city of Luanda is the capital of Angola. I did not visit Angola during my 2019 world cruise (but did visit Ghana, which we are bypassing this trip).
Like many cities in, um… “up and coming” countries, Luanda is a bit run down. Angola was a Portuguese colony and won independence 1n 1975, but a 25-year civil war followed. It reminded me when I visited Berlin in the early 2000s: I looked to the west and saw a vibrant, modern city; I looked east and saw 1950-style buildings slowly being knocked down and replaced. 90% of the city I saw here looked a bit dirty with a 1960s look.
I did not have cell phone data connection in Angola (for whatever that’s worth knowing).
An early stop for our bus “highlights” tour was the Iron Palace. It is similar to the Iron House I visited in Maputo, Mozambique, but the Palace was designed by Gustave Eiffel (of Tower fame). The building originally was being transported to Madagascar, but the ship crashed off the Angola coast. Oh well, I guess we’ll put it together here then. It currently houses art displays.
We then visited the Museum of Anthropology, which I did not really enjoy. They did have an interested collection of local masks.
We spent most of our tour at the Fortress of Saint Michael, built in 1576. It now houses a military museum. As I am an US Army veteran, I spent some time looking at the old Portuguese military hardware (left behind after independence).
The fort has a visually striking gate. I do appreciate classic propaganda art.
Inside the fort there was a room with individual weapon displays; however, the tile walls were the amazing bit.
We drove to a more up-kept part of town on out was to quick walk-thru the Mausoleum of Antonio Neto, the first president of a free Angola. It’s a concrete spire that juts into the sky – take a look at the wiki for better pictures, as we parked too close for me to really get a good photo.
We were asked not to take pictures of much of the interior, but there was marble and granite galore. I caught myself thinking about the cost and wondering about the run-down areas compared to this memorial, but then thought “is this really different than the US Washington Memorial?” Even that had to stop construction mid-way for years due to lack of donations. I don’t know. But here’s is a picture of Neto’s living room, kept in the archive section of the mausoleum.
We finished our tour with a drive-by of the capitol and administrative buildings. They have a classic Greek-inspired architecture with a surprising (at least to me) but pleasant pink/salmon paint.
I’m a bit perplexed with Angola. Since their civil wars have only ended in the last 25 years, I wonder how things will look in a few decades.