27-JUNE SQUARE (MENELIK SQUARE)

The central place where everything gravitates is the 27-June square (Menelik square). Located in the centre of the former colonial quarter, this space corresponds to the image of a square as a European imagines it: regular shape, homogeneity of architecture, a few trees, animation. From the first decades of Djibouti, this place was at the centre of the life of Europeans and local notables, and this can still be felt today.

Paul Nizan was astonished by the city's so French character (in comparison with Aden, influenced by England): "Same life as in Aden, adorned with the scruffiness of Southern European, Greek, French and Italian blows. ...] In Djibouti there are cafés, belote replaces bridge, the men talk about women. What a surprise for a Frenchman to find there the details that make France is France and wears on the same body other clothes than England. I'm at home in Menelik Square sitting at a café terrace in the style of Montélimar... " (Paul Nizan, Aden Arabie

Most of the buildings in the square are lined with Moorish arcades that provide shade for the terraces of cafés and hotels. From there, one can enjoy a view that is always the same and always new on human activity: traffic, tourists passing by, street vendors, a new 4x4 from a local notable, etc. There are a few souvenir shops, many green and white taxis, a few trees and, at the eastern end, the tourist office. The most beautiful house in the square is the one of Indian influence, which faces the tourist office, with its beautiful arcades, balconies and wooden structures. Around the square is a small grid of streets that intersect at right angles. Many streets are named after foreign capitals or cities: Paris, Brussels, Rome, Athens, London, Moscow, Geneva, Marseille... But some of these names have changed in recent years, so that we no longer really know what to call them. These axes, as sleepy as the rest of the country in the afternoon, come alive in the morning and in the evening. Various shops, restaurants, cafés, offices line all these streets.