Tourism Take 2

Our next stop was the Palace Museum.  Once the palace of the first Sultan, then subsequent ones till it was bombarded in what is now known as the Shortest War in History (40 minutes) when the Sultan tried to re-instate slavery (this was a pivotal location in the slave trade.)

The palace was re-built, and is now a museum dedicated largely to the Sutlan era. 

 Justin did brave this one and was pleased to find a Gatling Gun gracing the entryway of the palace.

 A gift from none other than the Good Old U. S. of A of course.

 What a welcome!

 Up yet another grand staircase we went.

 An inner balcony lined with life-sized paintings of many of the Sultans (there have been 11, the 11th now living in England since the bloody uprising in the 60's) led to the Princess Room.

 Princess Salme, daughter of the original Sultan who moved his reign/family/wealth/palace here to better oversee the slave trade, brother of Bargesh who built the House of Wonders, and author of a book we recently read, had a whole room dedicated to her and her life.

 Here is an outfit typical of what she would have worn.

 Including wooden platform shoes (at least 2 inches high all over) with a mere toe-peg to hold them on!

And the crazy head-dress they wore to cover their foreheads and noses.

 Sometime in her young adult life, she met, fell in love with, and became pregnant by her German businessman neighbor.  This led to her mid-night flight to England where she basically became a modern, European woman.  Sadly, her husband died just after the birth of their third baby and she was left alone in a strange land, unwilling or unable to come home.  Or both.

 Up another flight of stairs and we came to the Sultan's quarters.  This was his sitting area.

 It was full of the most beautiful, intricately carved Ebony furniture from India.

 Here's the Lover's Sofa.  Isn't it clever?  I think I want one!

 And looking down from the Sultan's balcony, we see the graveyard.  The first Sultan is buried there in the enclosure behind the coconut palm tree.  Women were buried this side of the path that runs along the bottom of the picture, but that picture was kind of boring.  They couldn't even be together in death.

 Here's another view looking back at the palace (on the left) with that burial enclosure at the bottom right.  Beautifully tragic, all in one picture.

 The end of the line found us at a new-to-us hotel restaurant (the view of the palace above is from here).  Cold water, yummy food cooked for us, and a comfy couch to relax on.  A great end to a fun, touristy day!