World of Cruising's blogger-in-chief Steve Newman finally reaches the end of his latest trip, an adventurous cruise to the Cape Verde Islands with Noble Caledonia...
Our last day in Cape Verde and another fabulous day exploring Mindelo, the capital of San Vincente island and one of the most attractive of all the Cape Verde towns.
There is a strong British influence here in the architecture, and the fish market was a real eye opener. However, the ladies who run the stalls are very proud and don’t like having their picture taken when they don’t look clean, so we had to ask first. Most of them were happy to have the fish taken but not them!
The vegetable market (above) is great, with a balcony running all the way around it so you can look down on all the stalls. We also went to a traditional bar/cafe for a coffee and a type of lemon/coconut treacle cake. It wasn’t a tourist place at all as the locals were watching football and shouting at each other in Creole/Portugese. Fantastic!
Lastly, we visited the workshop of a family who have been making and repairing guitars for 300 years. It was great to see the two brothers and one of their children steaming the wood and making the fret boards entirely by hand and with no imported materials. Then they played a couple of songs for us, which once again got our guides up and dancing along.
After lunch we had a choice. Walk into the town and explore or go for a swim on the white sand beach just some 300 yards from the ship. A fabulous cruise. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
For more information about Noble Caledonia’s Cape Verde cruise or other voyages, follow this link to The Cruise Line Ltd, the UK’s luxury and adventure-cruise specialists.
Our last day in Cape Verde and another fabulous day exploring Mindelo, the capital of San Vincente island and one of the most attractive of all the Cape Verde towns.
There is a strong British influence here in the architecture, and the fish market was a real eye opener. However, the ladies who run the stalls are very proud and don’t like having their picture taken when they don’t look clean, so we had to ask first. Most of them were happy to have the fish taken but not them!
The vegetable market (above) is great, with a balcony running all the way around it so you can look down on all the stalls. We also went to a traditional bar/cafe for a coffee and a type of lemon/coconut treacle cake. It wasn’t a tourist place at all as the locals were watching football and shouting at each other in Creole/Portugese. Fantastic!
Lastly, we visited the workshop of a family who have been making and repairing guitars for 300 years. It was great to see the two brothers and one of their children steaming the wood and making the fret boards entirely by hand and with no imported materials. Then they played a couple of songs for us, which once again got our guides up and dancing along.
After lunch we had a choice. Walk into the town and explore or go for a swim on the white sand beach just some 300 yards from the ship. A fabulous cruise. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
For more information about Noble Caledonia’s Cape Verde cruise or other voyages, follow this link to The Cruise Line Ltd, the UK’s luxury and adventure-cruise specialists.
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