Discover the Magic of Cape Verde – Part 1

Cabo Verde Airlines set up a new flight connection linking Milan to the island of Sal with a direct, six-hour flight. As first passengers, we celebrated the first flight with a press conference and delicious cake. Almost two hours had passed before we finally took off, and that was actually an overture to our no-stress holidays.

The archipelago of ten volcanic islands is located around 500km west of Senegal and the island chain’s name stems from the peninsula on the nearby Senegalese coast. The islands were colonised in the 15th century by the Portuguese who transformed the landscape over the next two centuries.

Travellers visiting Praia, the island’s as well as the country’s capital, can experience the city’s real African atmosphere: chaotic traffic, crowds of people, noise, people selling fruit and bread in the middle of the street and so on. We recommend visiting both markets, the one in Plateau as well as the one in the lower part of the city by the “bus station” that is known as Sucupira. That’s where all local van transportation to all parts of the island start from. The van sets out when its full and a single ride will cost you a few euros. The locals are honest and won’t charge you more than they would charge other locals if you’re a Caucasian, and they also let travel enthusiasts sit in the front row, so they can watch the landscape and admire the interesting view along the way.

It’s also worth visiting Cidade Velha where you can take a walk down Rua Banana that is thought to be the first cobblestone street in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cobblestone streets and colourful houses will even take you back to that time before you even realise it. There are children chasing a ball without a care in the world and older women carefully and skilfully making handcrafted products and selling them, while men are out fishing. You can climb above the city to take a look at the ruins of a cathedral and the perfectly preserved Fortaleza Real de San Felipe fortress with a stunning view reaching far and wide. If you’re lucky, you can also catch a ride to the village of Porto Mosquito where very few tourists venture if they don’t have their own transportation.

The sleepy town of Tarrafal is a must-see and you can walk down the streets all the way to one of the island’s most beautiful beaches; the water is truly clear and warm and there aren’t many people there during the week. And with some luck, you can spot fishermen heading home with their daily catch, which will most likely end up on tables throughout the whole island. Salazar’s concentration camp still stands a few kilometres out of the city and it served as a prison for opponents of the Portuguese right-wing authoritarian regime.

Serra da Malagueta is a mountainous area and a national park with peaks reaching up over a thousand metres and serves as a sanctuary to many endemic species of plants and animals. The park offers countless opportunities for hikes of any length and difficulty, so enter appropriately dressed and with enough liquid and snacks. During the hike, which offers some spectacular views reaching far beyond, you’ll have a chance to run into the locals carrying bales of hay down to the valley on their heads.

We visited the island of Santiago just in time for Independence Day (5 July). We were invited the evening before the celebrations to attend the majestic flag raising at the Presidential Palace in Praia, and then during the day, we walked around the island and watched the villagers of Rebelados dance around happily and without a care in the world. They had isolated themselves in the 1940s and moved to more remote areas of the island where they still retain their religious and cultural independence as well as political and cultural autonomy.

You can learn more about our experiences on the island of Sal and other useful information about our Cape Verde holidays in our next article.

Dušan Berdnik & Aleksandra Radojc