Falling in Love with Cape Verde

Portuguese sailors, British pirates and ruthless slave-traders have all anchored their ships by the sandy shores of the ten pieces of off-land Africa now known as Cape Verde. Through the centuries, the cold Atlantic currents and the fierce northern winds have blended the voyagers’ cultures into a unique creole society where sad songs are sung with a smile, and visitors welcomed with open arms.

This multicoloured population is matched by an impressive landscape variety. A relatively recent tourist destination, the archipelago offers both luxurious and rather modest hotels. So, check My Destination Cape Verde for more details, get yourselves a Portuguese pocket phrasebook, and let those same northern winds take you to Cape Verde.

Cape Verde’s Soul

The cheerful and friendly Cape Verdeans will make sure you don’t feel a stranger. Explore their history in the capital Praia’s museums, squares and markets, feel the African atmosphere that dominates Santiago Island.

The island of São Vicente will show you Cape Verde’s colonial face with Mindelo’s old Portuguese houses, fish markets and tiny craft shops. Dine in a traditional live-music restaurant with its creole menu: a mix of Brazilian, Portuguese and Caribbean dishes with fresh Atlantic fish for the seafood lovers’ delight. Relish a pastel com diablo dentro (a fried potato-dough wrap filled with fresh tuna, onions and tomatoes) as you listen to the enchanting notes of a morna – a traditional song about love and longing.  The locals’ musical spontaneity, as if the notes are flowing through their veins, is contagious and will make you dance the night away under the rhythms of the fado, salsa, tabanka and batuka.

The morning after, give your feet a well-deserved rest on the warm sands of the Baía das Gatas (the Cats’ Bay); admire its crystal lagoon before taking the ferry to Santo Antão Island. You’ll see flying fish and majestic rocks on your way to Porto Novo where the locals will welcome you with a grogue – a brandy coming straight from the island’s sugarcane plantations. Lunch with a nutritious cachupa (slow cooked stew of corn, beans and a sausage) so that you have enough energy to explore the islands’ natural wonders.

Cape Verde’s Nature

The first thing you’ll notice about the nature of Cape Verde, or the Green Cape, is that it’s not that green. It is actually a semi-desert with a mild climate due to the cool Atlantic currents. The few high mountains provide more that enough greenness for fantastic trekking and camping excursions. When you’ve had enough of the green trails of Santo Antão and San Nicolau why not switch to the desert scenery of Deserto de Viana in Boa Vista. Refresh with a surfing lesson at the exclusive Sal or some windsurfing at the enchanting Sal Rei Bay on Boa Vista Island. Add a volcano visit for a change, at Fogo – the island of fire, then float in the impressive saline lakes inside the spent crater at Sal’s Pedra de Lume. Get to know some endemic animals while bird watching and turtle watching on Morrihno coast in Maio, then snorkel through an underwater labyrinth of corals, fish and ship wrecks. If Boa Vista’s endless white beaches are too blinding for you, move your towel and flip-flops to the black, volcanic sands at Sao Felipe, Fogo. Don’t miss the tiny, flower-covered Brava Island.

The landscape will keep changing, unexpected and thrilling, and at the end of a desert safari, as you watch the purple sun hide behind the palms of the Ribeira Dom João oasis, you’ll realize you’ll miss Cape Verde so terribly much with that same longing of a morna song.

About the Author:

Nazeli K. Kyuregyan is currently studying Publishing and Journalism at the University of Verona in Italy. Her multicultural background and passion for travelling have convinced her that the discovery of new cultures is an essential key to understanding ourselves.

Images provided by the guest author.