Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tourist Office
( 97 02 52 29;
www.porto-novo.org
;
Pl Bayol; 9am-1pm & 3-6pm Mon-Fri)
Has a few
brochures and can help with finding guides. Near the cathedral.
Getting There & Away
Plenty of minibuses and bush taxis leave for Cotonou (minibus/bush taxi CFA500/800, 45
minutes) from Carrefour Catchi and in front of Ouando mosque. To Abomey from Porto
Novo is CFA3500. ATT buses that ply the Cotonou-Natitingou route also stop in front of
Ouando mosque (CFA7500 for Natitingou).
For Nigeria, you can get a taxi to the border point in Kraké (CFA800, 30 minutes), but
you'll have to change there to go on to Lagos.
WORTH A TRIP
ADJARA
Adjara, 9km northeast of Porto Novo on a back road to Nigeria, is a wonderful detour from Porto Novo. It's fam-
ous for its market, one of the most colourful in Benin. Held every fourth day, it's stocked with fetishes,
grigri
charms, unique blue and white tie-dyed cloth, some of the best pottery in Benin,
tamtams
and other musical in-
struments. You'll also see blacksmiths at work. Culture buffs will make a beeline for the small
Musée d'Adjara
(
97 60 07 95; admission CFA1000; 9am-6pm daily) , which has a good display of African masks. The
curator, Noël Agossou, will be happy to show you Adjara's highlights (CFA5000) and can also organise
pirogue
trips on a nearby river.
No visit to Adjara would be complete without having lunch at
Chez Houssou
(mains CFA1000; lunch
daily) . This unpretentious
maquis
, with no more than a couple of wooden benches, is famous for one thing and
one thing only:
porc grillé sauce sang
(grilled pork cooked in a blood sauce). Houssou cuts morsels of pork, puts
them in a mud-brick oven, and then serves them on a small plate - it can't get more authentic than that.
From Porto Novo, a
zem
ride shouldn't cost more than CFA900.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Ouidah
POP 87,200
Some 42km west of Cotonou is Ouidah, a relaxed, relatively prosperous town and a must-
see for anyone interested in voodoo or Benin's history of slavery. From the 17th to the late
19th century, captured countrymen from across West Africa left Ouidah for the Americas.
When voodoo has finished working its magic on you, there are sweeping expanses of
golden-sand beaches to laze upon.
