CAPE VERDE PART ONE

After six sea days, we are finally on land!  Cape Verde to be exact!

Cape Verde archipelago is a group of ten arid and desert like volcanic islands that were discovered by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century.  They are located on Africa’s western coast and were uninhabited until their discovery. The Portuguese settled here and brought over African slaves to work in their sugar cane plantations.  Today, the culture and language is Creole with a combination of Portuguese and African influences.  Cape Verde is classed as a poor country, however, the quality of life ranks highest in the United Nations index of West Africa.  It is a relatively safe place to visit as the country has remained a relatively peaceful and safe place with an almost non-existent incidence of crime.  Theft is the main crime and has increased lately due to the increase in tourism to the country.

Our ship made two stops in Cape Verde, spending about eight hours at each port. Our first stop and day one here was Praia, on the island of Santiago.  Praia is the capital of Cape Verde and is a “cosmopolitan” city, home to 90% of Cape Verde’s population. It also is Cape Verde’s largest port.  The population of Cape Verde is around 500,000.  

Our tour today was the included tour called “Panoramic Ilha de Santiago”.  It was basically a four hour bus ride with stops at various sites in and around the city.  Honestly, there was not that much to see and in my opinion, the whole tour could have been completed in much less time. We tended to stand around for long periods of time for “so called” photo opts.  We visited on Good Friday and the whole town was quiet.  I’m sure that had it been a non-holiday and the shops, etc. were open there might have been more to see and do.  We would have enjoyed visiting the marketplace.  For a “cosmopolitan” city, it was small and quaint.  I loved the brightly colored buildings and the charming architecture. 

Quiet streets and alleyways.

Charming painted buildings and a cafe that was open.

View inside the market with the wares covered until after the Easter holiday.  I’m always fascinated by the women carrying bins and baskets on their heads.  How do they do that?

Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace.  Worshipers were entering for Good Friday service.

Monuments in the town square.

Gorgeous coastline and view of our ship.

The Presidential Palace and more city buildings. Charming!

And of course as in any charming city - Charming Doors!

We found a #7 Door!

Back on the coach and headed out of town to visit Forte Real de Sao Filipe which is a 16th century fortress in the city of Cidade Velda in the south of the island of Santiago, Cape Verde.  It is located on a plateau above the town center and is 120 meters above sea level.  The fort was huge and had beautiful views in every direction.  (Note - it seems that we are viewing a fort at every port.  While some people I know love the forts, for me they are in the same category as museums - just saying……).  Mark took some really nice pictures of the fort!  Enjoy!

Cape Verde in general gets very little rainfall and this cistern was used to collect the small amount of water that they did get.  Mark and I referred to it as a big pizza oven!  We must have been hungry!

Back on the coach.  Our last stop is a small village called Cidade Velda. It was the former capital of the island of Santiago before Praia. The historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The housing is not nearly as nice as what we saw in Praia, but still very quaint.  I mentioned earlier that this was Good Friday and we arrived just as the passion parade was happening.  We saw the cross being carried and the worshippers following.  It was very heart warming and inspirational.

The Cross Procession and glimpses of the town’s homes and buildings.

Quiet and charming streets.

Besides the chickens, we saw goats and many dogs.

The seaside was beautiful.  Our guide is standing in the city center.  The concrete monument was used to attach a slave who was being auctioned off.  We also saw several women with their wares on their heads and fishing boats lined up on the shore.  Fishing is the main source of income here.

No fishing today! Swimming on the beautiful, rocky beach.

Doors of course!

And more doors!

Back on the ship and leaving the island of Santiago at sunset!