Country: Independent Samoa formerly known as Western SamoaCapital: ApiaLocation: 13 .5 S & 171.5 W, in the South Pacific between New Zealand and HawaiiTime: GMT-12hours – though they have started day light saving to keep with New Zealand time zonesLanguage: Samoan, EnglishPeople: PolynesianCurrency: Samoan…Read More

Country: Independent Samoa formerly known as Western Samoa
Capital: Apia
Location: 13 .5 S & 171.5 W, in the South Pacific between New Zealand and Hawaii
Time: GMT-12hours – though they have started day light saving to keep with New Zealand time zones
Language: Samoan, English
People: Polynesian
Currency: Samoan tala
Getting there (from U.K.): Air New Zealand from London to Apia via Los Angeles. There are flights direct from Australia too

We arrived by air with Air New Zealand from London via Los Angeles which was a killer of a journey so we were pretty tired when we arrived. The airport is tiny but I discovered as we were leaving that wi fi internet is free throughout the airport which I thought was a really nice idea and I can’t think why all airports don’t do it.

We were met and taken in a small bus the five minutes to our hotel at Aggie Grey’s lagoon (see separate review). We checked in and spent the day recovering from our journey relaxing around the resort.

One day we went on a trip to Savaii Island which I have also written a review about but on our last day we took the free shuttle bus from Aggie Grey’s lagoon resort into Apia where we were dropped at Aggie Grey’s hotel.

Opposite the hotel was a taxi rank and we hailed a taxi to take us to Vailima which was Robert Louis Stevenson’s House which I will write a separate review about. The taxi driver did offer to take us to a waterfall nearby but we were not that bothered so we returned to explore Apia.

Our ‘lonely Planet’ guide recommended a walk from Aggie Grey’s which is about THE most famous building in Apia and the walk took in the main sights of this tiny capital city.

AGGIE GREY’S HOTEL
Aggie Greys is a lovely old colonial hotel opened in 1933 and was used and enjoyed by the US military during WW II and has obviously seen a lot of Samoa’s history. Aggie herself is said to be the inspiration for James Mitchener’s ‘Bloody Mary’ in his book ‘Tales of the South Pacific’ upon which the musical ‘South Pacific’ is based. In the reception area there are lots of photos of Aggie and the one I thought was so amazing was the one where she was waving goodbye to the Queen who was in a very ordinary car – it just looked like she was waving to an old friend.

The hotel is on the waterfront overlooking Apia harbour and it is a lovely looking building itself. It goes back quite a long way. You walk passed several small fale style bungalows which are guest rooms, some named after famous people such as Marlon Brando, William Holden and James Michener who all stayed at the hotel in the past.

THE FOOD
The restaurant beside the pool is built in the style of a traditional meeting house or fale and it was adorned with carvings and woven fabric decorations too. We enjoyed a delicious meal for lunch in this restaurant, local food cooked in the traditional way but presented in a rather more classy way. We tried Lu'au or Palusami which is probably the dish that Samoa is most famous for. It is made from the leaves of the taro plant which ends up a bit like spinach and coconut cream, and sometimes onions are added to it and it was served with taro crisps. The other dish we tried here was Oka which is the way Samoans prepare and serve raw fish. It consists of small bits of fish that have been left to marinate in a mixture of lemon juice, coconut cream, salt and onions. They were both delicious helped down with a bottle of Vailima beer each.

Also very popular in both Samoa and Fiji is a drink called Kava (not the sparkling wine Cava!) this one is the traditional Samoan intoxicant. It is made from the root of a pepper plant (Piper Myristhium) which is ground up and mixed with water and served from a traditional many legged kava bowl. It looks like muddy water and has a slightly unusual rather medicinal taste to it. It is often drunk in huge quantities because its effects are very mild, inducing a degree of loquatiousness and a slight numbness to the tongue, lips and gums.

We didn’t try it in Samoa as the water was not really safe to drink but my husband tried it in the village on the island in Fiji. I tried Kava ice cream which was delicious but to me didn’t taste a lot different from a nice homemade vanilla ice cream. We did buy some packets for gifts for our children so I will try it with them.

Samoan food tends not to be highly spiced or seasoned and consists of cooked breadfruit, taro, taro leaves, cooked green bananas and raw fish. They use a lot of coconut cream which is very rich and quite fattening which along with the starchy vegetables probably explains why the Samoans were generally quite large people.


JOHN WILLIAM’S MONUMENT
This tiny city is the capital of Samoa and has a population of about 37,000. We set out on our walking tour from Aggie Grey’s along the harbour front into the town and the first site of interest was a monument to the missionary John Williams. He was killed and eaten while on mission work in Vanuatu but for some reason the Samoans retrieved his bones and had them buried under the church across the road from this monument. There is another monument to this same missionary in Savaii so the Samoans obviously feel a close connection to him.

THE SUPREME COURT BUILDING
We continued walking a little further along Beach Road which is the harbour front and we came to a nice enough looking colonial building which was the Supreme Court Building. You couldn’t go in so it was just a case of seeing it then moving on.

MULIVAI CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL
This white building was a squarish building with two castle- like turrets but the most astonishing thing that you can’t help but notice were the somewhat garish statues in the recesses. It was a bit like brightly coloured Christmas decorations that were so OTT that they were almost attractive in the way that the Blackpool illuminations can be in the right place.

SAMOAN TOURIST OFFICE
I’m not kidding this was listed on the things to see so we did. It is an attractive looking building built in style of a fale or meeting house. Unfortunately outside are several taxi drivers offering to take you around but they were not too aggressive. Inside it was air conditioned and cool but there was not a lot of information apart from leaflets on places to stay.This building was built on reclaimed land along with the government buildings behind it. The government buildings were pretty ugly it has to be said but obviously functional.

THE CLOCK TOWER
This is in the centre of a roundabout but was originally near the sea front. It was built in memory of those who fought or were killed in WWI. When we were there it had a huge banner reminding Samoans that the clocks were going back on October 1st for day light saving.

CHAN MOW’S BUILDING
Across the road from the clock tower was a rather attractive Spanish mission style building which housed the Chan Mow Supermarket which I have to say didn’t look that exciting so we did not go in to investigate.

APIA LIBRARY
This was quite an attractive fale style building with Samoan decorations on the walls which look a bit like tattoos for buildings.

THE FALE FONO
Samoa’s parliament house which looks a bit like a bowler hat in a sort of brick or peach colour. Across the road is the Independence Memorial built to celebrate Samoa’s Independence in 1962 and this bears the inscription " Samoa is founded on God" so the missionaries did a very successful conversion job on these islands.

That was the end of our walking tour which was about 3.5km but gave us a good idea of the city and then we returned to Aggie Grey’s Hotel to wait for our return shuttle bus back to our resort.

I would thoroughly recommend you visit Samoa as it has a fascinating traditional culture:Samoans have managed to keep intact most of their Polynesian culture and remain unspoilt by Westerners, Colonialists and tourists. Samoa has at times been under the control of both the Germans and the British but has been independent since 1962. The Samoan people are genuinely friendly and welcoming and very laid back and this is truly an island paradise with interesting traditions and culture.
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The Samoan Islands lie in the South Pacific Ocean, just to the east of the International Date Line, and are thus the last places to see the sunset each day. My recent visit was the first for nearly 40 years. Naturally I expected to see some…Read More

The Samoan Islands lie in the South Pacific Ocean, just to the east of the International Date Line, and are thus the last places to see the sunset each day.

My recent visit was the first for nearly 40 years. Naturally I expected to see some changes. Sure, there were new and bigger buildings to be seen about the capital, Apia. The roads around the islands had improved out of sight, and Aggie Grey's Hotel had been enlarged and modernised to meet international standards.

But many things remained the same: the laid-back atmosphere of not doing things in too much of a hurry; the warm friendliness of the Samoan people, who still seem to go out of their way to make visitors feel welcome; the golden sand beaches, where the tepid water allows you to swim and snorkel year round. And the reverence still showed for the memory of the Tusitala, the renowned Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, who spent the last four years of his life in Samoa. It is still regarded as a pilgrimage to climb Mount Vaea to visit his tomb, and read his epitaph inscribed upon it. But now you can visit his home at Vailima, which has been lovingly restored to the time of the Stevenson's occupation, a highlight of my visit to Samoa, and surely for that of anyone who grew up with Treasure Island, Kidnapped, or any other of Stevenson's works.

There’s a magnificent Banyan tree on the Apia Harbor seawall that needs to be photographed in early-morning sunlight. By not sleeping in, I blundered into a pleasant surprise: floats with the Miss Samoa candidates forming up for the Sept. 6 Teuila Festival Parade! Pronounced "Tuh WEE…Read More

There’s a magnificent Banyan tree on the Apia Harbor seawall that needs to be photographed in early-morning sunlight. By not sleeping in, I blundered into a pleasant surprise: floats with the Miss Samoa candidates forming up for the Sept. 6 Teuila Festival Parade!

Pronounced "Tuh WEE lah", it’s a week-long festival featuring canoe races, other contests, and a parade leading up to the Miss Samoa Pageant. The few tourists who got to the assembly area before the step-off had remarkable opportunities for photos --- some posed, some candid.

If you’re in Apia during Teuila Week, try also to catch some of the canoe races. Powering the six-seat canoes at race speed takes superb athletes, and the women are as impressive as the men. You’re free to mingle with the contestants and talk with them between races. Later that day, we saw a delegation from the winning village carry their trophy on a "victory lap" around Manono Island - but in a motorboat.

The driver/guide for our tour said the festival honors, among other things, the Ginger blossom - a special flower to Samoans.

The waters around Namua Island are a marine reserve. You can walk from the sandy beach and swim to the coral. There are a lot of brightly coloured corals and fish of all different shapes and sizes. I was glad that I took…Read More

The waters around Namua Island are a marine reserve. You can walk from the sandy beach and swim to the coral. There are a lot of brightly coloured corals and fish of all different shapes and sizes. I was glad that I took my own mask and snorkel.

I laughed when someone told me about snorkelling in Apia. I was very surprised to find the lovely Palolo Deep Reserve there. I swam out to where a stick showed the best viewing area. Here I saw deep structures of coral and every colourful fish I could ever wish for. I have snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef and this reserve was just as good. Wow! It cost a small amount to go to but was worth it.

It is possible to stay in everything from posh hotel to tent. You can stay in such types of accommodation anywhere in the world. Samoa offers the chance to stay in a fale. It is the traditional way of living after all. It…Read More

It is possible to stay in everything from posh hotel to tent. You can stay in such types of accommodation anywhere in the world. Samoa offers the chance to stay in a fale. It is the traditional way of living after all. It is an open sided single room structure with a thatched roof. The advantage is that you can feel cool air at night and it is also a shady place to rest when you feel hot. You have coconut weaved walls that can be rolled down if it is wet or if you would like some privacy. I just got dressed in the bathroom and kept the fales I stayed in open.

I especially liked these fales:

Namua Island Fales
Litia Fales
Tafua Fales

The tourist office in Apia can book any fale for you and the chance is it will be on a special sandy beach.