Accra, Ghana's capital, is a huge city. But unlike cities I know from Europe it does not have one core, one historic city, from which it expands.
I actually had troubles finding beauty in the city during my one week stay there. But this might also be because I was overwhelmed by the disparity of this city to all others I have ever visited and the intimidating amount of people and noise.The one quarter which might be called the historic center, James Town, is situated directly on the Antlatic coast. I stayed in a part far in the North, around 15 km away from the coast, called Medina. To get around in this big city the main means of public transport are again the Tro Tro's. Here, there are hundreds or thousands of them. And there are also real "bus stop's". The signs point out that the maximum waiting time for a Tro Tro is around 2 minutes. Though it then still depends if the car will go in your direction.
My stop was Zongo Junction, which apparently points out that it is in a Muslim quarter.

Each of the Mate's of the Tro Tro's was yelling the direction where they would go: Osu, Accra (meaning the direction of the Independence Square), Circle... I always confirmed if they were going where I wanted to go because I didn't know their routes and also the destinations did not really help me. But they were always very friendly, though very eager that I should take their car. It worked out very well, though I was sometimes confused, when realising that we were taking another route, but they just vary but end up in the same place. Only one time the driver just didn't stop where I wanted to get off. I told the mate and got really alarmed and didn't understand why they hadn't stopped. Normally trey also just stop randomly along the street. End of the story: I had to walk quite a bit along a six-lane road and was really angry. I remembered the car, an old European ambulance, to make sure I wouldn't take this one again, eventhough this would be very unlikely anyway.Sightseeing in Accra for me was a very lonely mission. I visited the Independence Square,  the Christiansborg (which is apparently a military base now and they shooed me off the property), Ussher Fort, the Lighthouse in James Town, Labadi Beach, Osu, Makola Market, the Art Center, the cemetery and the University of Legon.
That might sound like a lot and like some interesting places, but well...I am not going to explain all these sights, that's too much for this format and I am not trying to write a city guide book.
I explored Accra on different days of the week but the touristic sites were always really empty. I will just relate some impressions.Ussher Fort for example, is one of the three major European forts at the coast of Accra. I was told that there was a museum as well. I arrived, peeked through the gate and saw a nice sign indicating the fees for the museum. Nothing and noone else. So I entered and finally from the far end of the fort an elderly Ghanaian came and asked me in broken english if I wanted to look around. I asked for the museum and he started talking about the National Museum being under construction right now. I let the subject drop and the nice man gave me a short tour through the fort. It is nearly all in ruins but you can still see some of the cells for prisoners, the washroom and the empty spaces where a mosque and a christian church used to be.

It was interesting and the man was very friendly but it left me wondering.
When I entered the terrace on one side of the Fort to look over the sea I was asked to go to some people sitting in the shade. One of them told me that this was his courtyard and that he and his family kept the place clean, so I should feel free to look around but should pay him "an amount that comes from my heart". I felt really weird. The place where he was was clean indeed, but one look over the wall in the direction of the ocean made it clear where all the garbage ended up...

Next stop was the lighthouse. On the way there I passed by James Fort but I didn't feel the need to go inside, it looked deserted as well. But I wanted to have a look at it from the seaside and thus started to descend one street when someone yelled at me and stopped me. It was a rather young Ghanaian man with Rasta hair. He told me I couldn't go down there alone. Somehow he made me feel very uncomfortable and so I just changed direction, moving towards the lighthouse. There was a big sign on the lighthouse that no photo's were aloud to be taken of the area. I stopped and checked on my map where I would go next, since this quarter did not look very inviting. The Rasta-guy approached me again and started talking about how there were places where I couldn't go, or at least not alone and took my arm. I told him I would leave and didn't want his help. He was frightening me a little and so I was glad to leave him behind. But I was surprised that I hadn't seen a single tourist on these locations.
And it was the same with the Independence Square,  the symbol of Accra with the arch of triumph with the black star built to celebrate Ghana's independence in 1957.

One other thing that did not help bringing the city closer to my heart were the markets. They are more or less famous, there is an art market and several normal markets for food and clothes. Apparently it is common to bargain. I only wanted to buy some bananas and I knew the approximate price, and what the woman demanded was ten times as much. I started bargaining but it's not my thing at all. And how on earth are you going to bring someone down to 1/10 of the price they tell you?
So I left without buying anything. I suddenly was happy about the location of my hostel, being near a street where also nearly everything is being offered but to fixed prices. Maybe I am just not the right person for bargaining (probably) but I just felt like being cheated.At Labadi Beach I was waiting some time alone for my friend to arrive. I was happy to be by the water, away from the crowded streets. But no way for peace and silence! Every two minutes another seller approaches you, insisting on showing you paintings, wood carvings, beads or his horse. One of them apparently got angry at me when I backed away. For me this was a gesture to show that I was not interested and wanted to be left alone. He started asking me how old I was because I was making myself so small. And that it was not the way in Ghana to go away, but that you had to approach and talk to people. I guess this was my clue to realising that yes, that's the way with Ghanaians, and no, this is not my way.So, all in all Accra is loud and crowded and not my favourite city. But I also learned a lot here. How to get around in the Tro Tro's,  how to cross a six-lane street without traffic light, that people are in general nice and welcoming if you just ask for the things you need but also that sometimes the wisest thing to do is just to leave. And that you can basically do your shopping while just driving around the major streets. Whenever traffic slows down and stops an army of sellers enters and tries to excite anyone inside the cars for drinks, different foodstuffs, washing powder, phone accessories or basically anything you can imagine.

And to end this chapter now in happier terms: this is one shop in Osu. Osu was the quarter I liked the most. Not too many people but some nice patterns to look at.