Tuesday, April 15. Clear sky, light wind, about F 78?
The ship plugged along last night going from a southern island in the archipelago to a northern island where the city of Mindelo is. The sunrise and breaking of the dawn over the volcanic islands was spectacular. The temperature was ok, but not warm. We thought that we were watching the eclipse of the moon at 5.30 AM but it was just a very close planet!
Fellette still has the cough but she manages to stifle it by sucking on strepsils when she feels the need to.
An appropriate breakfast for a day of exploring a new town/city and at 9.00 am we were on a shuttle for the 8 minute ride to the drop-off point. We four then spent the next 3 1/2 hours rather enthralled with this quaintsy little place. The contrast between yesterday and today was staggering, it was as if we were in a different country. There is much more wealth here and that is obvious everywhere you turn. It is far from a Malta, or Mediterranean port, but very nice. A good comparison would be a mid-grade Caribbean Island with a Portuguese flavour, or maybe a Mini-Madeira.
Our first stop was the fish market and we were there early enough to see them still bringing in the fish. It was amazingly clean and everybody was busy at work, they all had their job to do and we did not distract them. The local customers wait patiently as the vendors sort and then drop whatever the customer wants into their, bag, pail, crate or they just carry it away holding them by the tail! I wondered when I saw harvest today, how many markets around the world have been hauling fish out of the sea for hundreds of years, yet the natives often treat the oceans like a garbage dump.
Next we wandered to The African Market, which, although nice, was a shadow of some we have seen. Jim made a few purchases.
A little park gave us a bit of time to sit and people-watch for some time, but the quietness was too often broken by large walking tours from the ship as they meandered through the streets, stopping at points of interest and then slowly moving on like a rag-tag army in retreat. Many streets seemed to be free from vehicles, the only commercial traffic moving was women with very large loads on their heads moving in the direction of a fresh vegetable market which we subsequently visited.
Soon a Patisserie, [pastry shop] caught our eye and we went in and had a bite to eat. The local currency is the Cape Verde Escudo but they took Euros. It was very European in nature, where rather an assortment of exotic coffees & drinks were available, but we stuck to our water bottles like good soldiers.
A few more photos and then we walked back to the ship shortly after lunch. The rest of the day was spent napping, reading, relaxing and sitting on the deck watching the activity at our doorstep: a ship from Malta unloading bulk cargo a few hundred yards away, the local ferries coming and going, and assessing the collection of vintage small ships at anchor just across the way.
On the menu tonight is: Fresh catch from Cape Verde - Red Parrot Fish. Pepper-baked with Chorizo and Avocado. Complemented with a Mediteranean-style tomato and olive relish served atop a silky celeriac purée. Gad, it takes longer to describe it than it does to eat it!
Not sure what we will do tomorrow, some depends upon the progression of Fellette's cold and some depends upon what we hear from the brave souls that ventured further afield than the city of Mindelo today.
We overnight here, sailing late tomorrow afternoon across the Atlantic for five days before hitting Barbados.
Moored across from us when we came in this morning was a very, very large sailboat, the M5. A charter from the Isle of Man. It has a crew of 15, some women, apparently rather healthy looking, and has six staterooms. Within minutes of us docking it moved out into the bay about 1/2 kilometre.
Later this afternoon, or early evening, the Fred Olsen Cruise Lines ship, Braemar, moored in the spot that the sailing ship was in earlier. A very spiffy looking ship the Braemar, I am not sure of the lineage of that line but the flag flying astern is a rather Scandinavian looking flag.
Pics.
- Our awakening this morning.
- Entrance to the fish market.
- Some fish, heading for the market.
- Next five: fish!
- Mini tower of Belam.
- Basket on the head, knapsack on her arm and baby on the back! Stop complaining ladies!
- Discussion.
- Resting
- Next two: on the way to market, with goods.
- Proudly showing her homemade product.
- Next five, interesting buildings.
- That is a rolled up snake skin, python maybe.
- The walk back to the ship.
- "I'm the King of The Castle"
- Our home for another 13 nights.
- Braemar, alongside us tonight.
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