Hells Kitchen
A visit to Malindi is almost essential, there are some excellent restaurants, such as The Baby Marrow, The Old Man of the Sea, and I Love Pizza as well as the local cash points and banks. Silver Sands beach, to the south along the “Tourist Road”, is still quite nice, but bears no comparison with the beaches in Watamu.
The curio market near the jetty is good and well organized, but a lot of people compete for your attention. Much better to go to the wood-carving cooperative near the police station, and directly opposite the Kindy Bakers. Several of the shops from Uhuru Gardens and down along Lamu road sell good quality Indian silver and other jewelry and semi-precious stones.
If you do find yourself in town, the one place you really should visit is the Malindi Museum, called “The House of Columns”. This is on the seafront opposite the football field. It is one of the oldest buildings in Malindi and was recently restored with financial assistance from the German Government. It is not yet complete in terms of exhibits etc., but there are many old photographs as well as various artifacts. The collection is gradually building up. There is a reading library on the top floor, if you find yourself in town on a wet day.
Just up the road is the Portugese Chapel and the monument to Vasco da Gama, arguably Malindi’s first tourist (1498), can be seen across the bay. A good place to stop for a cool coke, or something a little stronger, is the nearby Baobab Bar and Restaurant, where the owner is likely to assure you that “the breeze is free”!
