Fodor's Expert Review Ilha de Mozambique, Nampula Province

Ilha (ilia) de Mozambique, the former colonial Portuguese capital in Nampula province, is a small coral island that was the most important settlement along the East African coast for four centuries. Only one-and-a half miles (2.5 km) long and a third of a mile (600 m) wide, this UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site is home to some of the oldest colonial buildings in the southern hemisphere. Check out the 1610 Jesuit College of São Paulo with its 17th century pulpit from India's Goa province. See the Fortress of São Sebastião, built in the mid 1500s and often described as one of Africa's most formidable fortresses, explore the southern hemisphere's oldest standing European building, the Church of Nossa Senhora Baluarte, within the fort, and take in the 18th century whitewashed Catholic Cathedral where shipbuilders still ply their ancient traditional craft on the beach in front.