A Delighful Few Days in Kigali

I went back to Rwanda for a few days, but this time I only stayed in the capital as I went for a meeting. It was a quick trip but I was sure to make the best of it.

I went by road from Kibondo in Western Tanzania and it was an 8 hour drive. There are hardly any tarred roads in Kibondo so I was on bumpy roads for about 4 hours then close to the border, the road was tarred but had a lot of potholes so it wasn’t different. From the border to Kigali takes 3 hours and a half and the roads are good. There are parts that are rough but the road is good in general. The scenery for me was the best part. Rwanda is beautiful indeed. 



Border formalities took me 30 minutes when I was going to Rwanda and less time when I was returning to Tanzania.

 

A view of Kigali

A busy area close to the market

Streets of Kigali

Market bants

If you read my last post about Rwanda, it gives a good idea on what to do while you are there. This time, I focused on food as there are no restaurants where I live at the moment. I was in heaven!

Some of the ones I went to:

-         Kiseki Authentic Japanese restaurant – The sushi was good. Coming from a village, I guess everything would taste good. I also tried the Japanese fried chicken which for me was chicken with a light batter over it so there was nothing spectacular about it. I hear this restaurant is one of the top ten in Kigali. I would recommend it for sushi for sure.

Japanese fried chicken

Crunchy shrimp sushi

-         Pili Pili – This restaurant has an amazing view of the city and the ambience was lovely. I went on a Saturday afternoon, there were other people but it was peaceful. The waiter who attended to us was amazing, he paid so much attention to detail. He was an older man and at the end of our meal, he was pleased that we both ate all. He mentioned that it gave him satisfaction each time he saw customers finish their meals. I had a pizza while my friend had a salad.

The view from the restaurant

There is a small beach area where children spent most of their time playing

HWN meet up - she recommended the place

-        Delizia Italiana in Kigali heights – I had been to this Italian gelato place before so I knew just where to go to satisfy the sweet tooth craving I had. Ice cream is one of my guilty pleasures and the ice cream here is good. I definitely recommend that you try it.

-         German butchery – My friends took me here for dinner on the Friday night I was there. Every first Saturday of the month, there is usually a special German dish. The dish had potatoes, dumplings, red cabbage and roasted pork. We all enjoyed it.

I 

 I had fun hanging out with these ladies

Friday night catch up. Was great to see her again

Saturday morning - I wonder what got me laughing so hard!

Kigali is a really quiet and nice city, I imagine it is the kind of place one would enjoy only if they had the right information.

By the way, if you are looking for a place to go dancing, Cocobean is the place! Good music, good vibes, lively people...it was fun.




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