Luanda in 3 days

Museu Nacional de Escravatura (National Slavery Museum — in the chapel of Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos, on the site of the historical slave-holding facility at the Morro do Cruz (the hill above the bay of Luanda)): the historical context (the Angolan slave trade was the largest source of enslaved Africans to the Americas: approximately 5.7 million enslaved Angolans (Kimbundu, Bakongo, Ovimbundu, and other Bantu peoples) were transported from Angola to Brazil (the primary destination), Cuba, Haiti, and North America between 1550 and 1850 (the Portuguese slave trade from Angola was the longest-running slave trade route in the world (300 years); the Luanda holding facility (the barracoons) could hold up to 10,000 enslaved people awaiting transport at any one time)); the museum (the chapel building (1758) where enslaved people were baptised before transportation (the Portuguese Crown required all enslaved people to be baptised before they could be legally transported — a provision that provided theological cover for the trade while making no practical difference to the enslaved); the exhibition in the courtyard shows the iron restraints, the transport conditions, and the demographic data of the Angolan slave trade). Free.

Museu Nacional de Antropologia (National Anthropology Museum — Largo do Palácio; the national museum of Angolan cultural heritage and traditional arts): the collection: (1) the Kongo Kingdom artifacts (the Kingdom of Kongo (1390–1914 — one of the most sophisticated pre-colonial states in sub-Saharan Africa; at its peak the Kongo Kingdom covered most of northern Angola and the western Congo basin; the Kingdom had a sophisticated administrative structure (a royal capital at Mbanza Kongo (now in northeastern Angola), a taxation system, and an elaborate court culture (the Kongo elite adopted Christianity in 1491 when the King of Kongo (Nzinga a Ntinu Wene) was baptised (the first sub-Saharan African king to voluntarily convert to Christianity))); the artifacts include: nkisi figurines (the power figures of Kongo religious practice — wooden or textile bundles containing medicinal, ritual, and ancestor-related objects; the most famous type: the nkisi nkondi (the 'hunter' power figure — studded with iron nails, each nail representing a contract or oath taken in the presence of the figure))); (2) the Angolan mask tradition (the masking traditions of the Chokwe, Lwena, and Yaka peoples). Adults AOA 200.

Mercado do Roque Santeiro (the largest informal market in Africa; relocated from its original waterfront location (demolished 2010 for the waterfront renovation) to the Benfica district (20km south of central Luanda by taxi (AOA 3,000)): the market (approximately 250,000 traders and 600,000 visitors per day at peak (the figures are estimates; the market has no official count)): the scale (the market extends over 3km² of the Benfica district, with thousands of permanent and semi-permanent stalls under corrugated iron roofs selling: everything from live chickens and Congolese palm oil, to Chinese-made electronics, second-hand clothing from Europe and North America (the 'mitumba' — the bale second-hand clothing trade that supplies the majority of urban Africans with clothing), counterfeit cosmetics, and traditional medicines)); the market name (the market was named 'Roque Santeiro' after a Brazilian telenovela (TV soap opera) of the same name (1985–1986) that depicted a chaotic frontier town; the market traders named their market after the telenovela because both had similar chaos and energy)). Free to enter.

Kizomba (the most internationally recognised music export of Angola: a romantic, slow-tempo dance music (80–100 BPM) with a distinctive romantic, sensual character; kizomba ('party' in Kimbundu) developed in Luanda in the late 1970s–early 1980s as a fusion of the Angolan semba (the traditional couple dance of Luanda's Kimbundu-speaking community — the ancestor of Brazilian samba (the word 'samba' derives directly from the Angolan 'semba') and the Cape Verdean zouk (zouk — the fast carnival music of the French Antilles that the Cape Verdean community of Luanda in the 1970s–1980s adapted as a slower, more romantic style called 'cabo love'))). Kizomba is now one of the most popular partner dances in Western Europe (it arrived in Lisbon with the Angolan diaspora in the 1990s; by 2010 it was the fastest-growing partner dance in Portugal, Spain, France, and Germany). Best kizomba clubs in Luanda: Dolce Vita (Ilha), Tamariz Beach Bar (Ilha). Cover AOA 2,000–5,000.

Palácio de Ferro (Iron Palace — the most extraordinary building in Luanda: a prefabricated iron structure (cast-iron columns, iron plates, decorative iron facades) designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (the same engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower (1889) and the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty (1886))); the palace (the building was designed in the 1890s and shipped from Paris (it was originally intended for the Governor's residence in Madagascar (or for Brazil — the precise destination is debated); it arrived in Luanda by mistake (or opportunistically) and was erected as the Governor's summer residence): the iron construction (the prefabricated panels lock together like a Victorian meccano set; the entire structure could (in theory) be disassembled and moved to a new location); the building (3 storeys, with iron balconies, iron roof, and cast-iron ornamental details in the Orientalist/colonial style popular in French colonial architecture of the 1880s–1900s)). Adults AOA 500.

Marginal de Luanda (the seafront boulevard of Luanda — the most expensive urban infrastructure project in Angola's history (the Luanda waterfront renovation: 2012–2018; budget: USD 1.2 billion; funded by Sonangol (the Angolan state oil company) and the Chinese Exim Bank (as part of the Angola-China infrastructure-for-oil financing arrangements that became the template for Chinese engagement in Africa)): the waterfront (the renovated 10km waterfront boulevard has: palm-lined pedestrian promenades, a newly elevated freeway, the Cais do Passeio (the leisure pier), and the striking Luanda National Museum (the new national museum building — a curved, modernist structure on the waterfront designed to house the complete national collections of Angola)). The contrast (the most striking feature of the Luanda Marginal: the brand-new waterfront boulevard (World-class infrastructure) directly adjacent to the musseques (the informal settlements — the unplanned, densely populated areas of mud-brick and corrugated iron that house approximately 60% of Luanda's population)). Free.

Bairro da Samba (the Samba neighbourhood — one of the oldest and most historically significant bairros (neighbourhoods) of Luanda: the area around the Rua Major Kanhangulo in the upper city (Cidade Alta) has the finest concentration of Portuguese colonial domestic architecture in Luanda (single-storey and two-storey colonial houses with verandas, louvred shutters, and tiled roofs — the Portuguese colonial domestic architecture of the 19th century, similar to the colonial architecture of Mozambique and Brazil)): the colonial houses of Samba (many are in the process of demolition or replacement (the Luanda property market is driven by the oil economy and the pressure to replace colonial-era buildings with modern apartments is intense)); the cultural significance (the Samba neighbourhood is the historical home of Luanda's Kimbundu-speaking elite — the 'crioulo' community (the descendants of mixed Portuguese and Angolan ancestry who formed the educated class of colonial Angola and who founded the MPLA in the 1950s)). Free.

Calulu (the most important traditional dish of the Angolan Atlantic coast: a fish and vegetable stew that is the primary daily food of the coastal Kimbundu-speaking fishing communities): the calulu (dried and fresh fish combined — the dried fish (peixe seco — the sun-dried fish that forms the flavour base of the stew; the most common: dried stockfish (bacalhau — not the Portuguese bacalhau (salt cod) but the genuinely dried-without-salt fish of the Angolan coast)) combined with fresh fish (the catch-of-the-day from the Ilha market); the vegetables: quiabo (okra — the defining vegetable in Angolan cooking, adding a thickening mucilaginous quality to the stew), sweet potato greens (batata-doce leaves), and the calulu seasoning (the preparation of the calulu is the most time-consuming of the Angolan traditional dishes: the dried fish is soaked for 24 hours to rehydrate, then combined with the fresh fish, the palm oil, the tomato and onion sofrito, and the greens for a long slow cook of 3–4 hours)). Best calulu in Luanda: the Restaurante São Paulo (the colonial-district restaurant run by a family from Malanje (the interior province famous for the best traditional cooking in Angola)). AOA 8,000–15,000.