Nigeria: Lagos – Around Lagos Island

Lagos is spread over many peninsulas and islands in the Bay of Lagos but the central and oldest part is on a relatively small Lagos Island (like a Manhattan of Lagos) containing the CBD. Don’t expect a classic European-style compact old town – here it’s more of a jumble of streets, crumbling old colonial buildings (or just plain crumbling buildings), dull boxy grey cement office towers, myriad of churches everywhere, traffic jams and pedestrians, all pushing along at the background of dust and trash. A visit to the National Museum of Nigeria was equally disappointing – a few interesting exhibits and a Mercedes where one of the presidents was killed (no photography allowed). And a long photographic display of Nigeria’s history since independence – one endless line of coups and military regimes.