St. Louis
On Thursday and Friday we went to Saint. Louis. Saint-Louis is located at the mouth of the Senegal River a few short kilometers from Mauritania. It is the site of West Africa’s first French settlement and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. We stayed in the old town center located on an island in the Senegal River.
On Thursday we visited Gaston Berger University, the second largest university in Senegal. We were greeted warmly by Nino Mendy a political scientist and Director of Communication and Marketing at the University. Mr. Mendy lectured on the political history of Senegal after independence. That evening we ate at a Moroccan restaurant on the northern tip of the island.
On Friday we took a tour of the historic district of St. Louis. We considered both the multifaceted history of the town and surrounding area, as well as the condition of being a tourist, of finding ourselves above the streets gazing out interestedly at the world. We ended the day with mangoes before our bus ride home.
