Independence Weekend in Grand Popo

For the weekend of Nigeria's 57th birthday, Sandra and I decided to explore the beach town of Grand Popo, Benin Republic.

The destination choice was for only one reason, I wanted to rest.

This is our third visit to the Benin Republic, we visited for the first time in 2014 when we visited Cotonou and Porto Novo and 2015 when we visited Ouidah but this is our first time visiting Grand Popo.

We breezed through the Seme border in less than 30 minutes. I learned one big lesson to always check my passport to be sure it got stamped. The officer who was busy trying to make a side deal forgot to stamp my passport out of all the passports in his hand. He did enter me into the system but did not stamp me out.

I thought the beach in Ouidah was beautiful but the beach in Grand Popo takes it all. Maybe because the town is less populated. The beach is blue, the picture above is straight from the camera, no edit. The town is sleepy or maybe it is the side of town we were located.

The accommodation was a residence I found on Jumia Travel, but it is also listed on Airbnb. I booked a studio apartment which had it's own kitchen and door leading to the swimming pool and straight to the beach.



The goal of the trip was rest, so we spent the days on the beach, in the pool and watched the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy and How to get away with Murder. The only time we stepped out of the apartment was to get dinner on both nights and when we checked out to return to Lagos.


Food we ate
Language barrier was an issue here, we found it difficult communicating what we wanted. We ordered blindly and thank God we did not end with food we could not eat. I survived 2 nights with no pepper.  




I intend to embrace more of this type of trips. It is not every time somebody will be roaming about in the name of travel. Sometimes just relax and sip juice.


So my breakdown of travel to the Benin Republic is this, for business and City life, Cotonou is the best destination. For tourist things, Ouidah and Porto Novo it is and for the beach life, Grand Popo is the destination.

Where did you spend your independence holiday?

Have you been to Benin Republic? If yes, which town? Please share your experience


♥Lara

Molara Brown

9 comments:

  1. Wow. Glad you got your much-desired rest. As close at cotonou is, I have never been there. One day sha...

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    Replies
    1. Cotonou is easily brushed aside as a destination,the border wahala alone is enough to make somebody want to turn back home.

      The rest was really deserved.

      Delete
  2. I couldn't help but laugh so loud at the last statement: "I intend to embrace more of this type of trips. It is not every time somebody will be roaming about in the name of travel. Sometimes just relax and sip juice."

    Glad to know that you rested well and had a good time. The picture of the beach looks really nice. Have a great day ahead!

    www.zinnyfactor.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, oh somebody cannot come and die.

      Thanks for visiting the blog.

      Delete
  3. Sometimes, a vacation should be just that - relaxing and sipping juice.. hehe. Been to Grandpopo just once as well and that's basically all we did (well, cos we had money issues) but it was pretty cool all the same. Loved it.

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    Replies
    1. Your trip actually inspired my visit...it is a pretty cool place.

      Delete
  4. This is really good..
    been looking for a place to go to in benin that you can just go and rest.
    It looks like all the tour agencies are directing everybody to Ouidah...
    whats the name of the hotel you stayed in and did they speak another language but French?
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,

      Grand Popo is a place to explore, I stayed in a residence which is currently unavailable. You can stay in Auberge de Grand popo, they speak understandable English

      Delete

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