Walking Tours

Walking in Apia -- A Hollywood set designer would be hard-pressed to top Apia as an old South Seas town. I love to stroll along the promenade fringing the perfect half-moon curve of Beach Road and let the old churches and clapboard government buildings tell me how things used to be. Locals fishing or idling the time away along the seawall tell me what's going on today.

Like most South Pacific towns, Samoa's capital and only town has expanded from one small Samoan village to include adjacent settlements and an area of several square miles, all of which is now known collectively as Apia, the name of the village where Europeans first settled. The old villages have given their names to the many neighborhoods of the sprawling metropolitan area, and much to the confusion of us visitors, the locals identify locations by neighborhood names instead of streets. The Apia area now has a population in excess of 50,000.

Most points of interest lie along Beach Road, the broad avenue curving along the harbor. A waterfront promenade extends along one side and churches, government buildings, and businesses line the other.

We start our walking tour of downtown at Aggie Grey's Hotel & Bungalows, on the banks of the Vaisigano River. This famous hotel and its founder are stories unto themselves, which are recounted in "Where to Stay on Upolu," later in this chapter. From Aggie's, head west, or to the left as you face the harbor.

The two large churches on the left are both Protestant, legacies of the Rev. John Williams, for whom the modern high-rise office building at the corner of Falealili Road is named. On the waterfront across Beach Road stands the John Williams Memorial to this missionary who brought Christianity to Samoa and many more South Pacific islands. Williams's bones are reputedly buried beneath the clapboard Congregational Christian Church, directly across Beach Road from the memorial. The missionary was killed and eaten on Erromango in what now is Vanuatu; the story has it that his bones were recovered and buried here.

The clapboard, colonial-style Courthouse at the corner of Ifi'ifi Street formerly housed the Supreme Court and Prime Minister's office, before they moved into the big high-rise buildings across the road. In colonial times, it was headquarters of the New Zealand trusteeship administration and site of the Mau Movement demonstration and shootings in 1929.

Upstairs in the Courthouse, the small but interesting Museum of Samoa (tel. 63-444) is worth a brief look. It's open Monday to Friday noon to 4pm. Admission is free.

When he came to Samoa, Robert Louis Stevenson first stayed in the old clapboard building where Sails Restaurant and Bar now makes its home. With several other bars and restaurants, this block is the center of dining and drinking in Apia. The Marist Brothers' Primary School is on the banks of Mulivai Stream. Across the bridge stands Mulivai Catholic Cathedral, begun in 1885 and completed some 20 years later. Farther along, the imposing Matafele Methodist Church abuts the stores in the Wesley Arcade. According to a monument across Beach Road, Tongan Chief Saivaaia brought Methodism to Samoa in 1835.

The remains of the German warship Adler are buried under the reclaimed land, now the site of two huge, fale-topped government office buildings, built in the mid-1990s with foreign aid from China. On the water side of Beach Road stands a memorial to the Samoans who fought alongside the New Zealanders during World War II.

The center of modern Apia's business district is the Town Clock, the World War I memorial at the foot of Vaea Street. Across the street, the Chan Mow & Co. building is a fine example of late South Seas colonial architecture; its arches and red-tile roof make it look almost Spanish. Between the clock and the water stands a large Samoan fale known as Pulenu'u House, where local residents can be seen lounging or eating their lunches. Facing the clock, Nelson Memorial Public Library is named for Olaf Nelson, son of a Swedish father and Samoan mother. Olaf Nelson was exiled to New Zealand in 1928 for his leadership role in the Mau Movement.

Continuing west on Beach Road, you come to the sprawling Old Apia Market. Once the vegetable market, this large covered space is now home to flea-market stalls where you can find items ranging from sandals to toothpaste. One area is devoted to handicraft vendors, and you can stop and watch local women weaving pandanus mats, hats, and handbags. This is a good place to shop for woodcarvings and tapa cloth (called siapo here; see "Shopping"). I haven't had the stomach for such local fare since my days as a young backpacker, but the food stalls along the market's water side are the cheapest (and dirtiest) places in town to get a meal.

Fugalei Street, which leaves Beach Road across from the market, goes to the airport and the west coast. Walk down it a block, and turn left and go east on Convent Street past picturesque St. Mary's Convent and School. At the next corner, turn right on Saleufi Street and walk inland 2 blocks to the New Apia Market, a modern, tin-roofed pavilion where Samoan families sell a wide variety of tropical fruits and vegetables, all of which have the prices clearly marked (there is no bargaining). Like everywhere else in the islands, the market is busiest on Saturday morning.

Start Early By Watching the Police Band Parade -- Apia can be brutally hot at midday, so the best time to walk around it is right after the Samoa Police Brass Band marches along Beach Road (daily between 7:30 and 8am) to Government House, where it raises the national flag. It's worth watching the cops in their white helmets, light blue uniforms, and lava-lavas. If you take photos, don't get between the band and the flagpole.