Sunday 11th January, 20 degrees the wind continues from the north

I woke just before 7 a.m. to find us in the harbour at Cape Verde or Cabo Verde as the local people call it. We are to the West of Senegal. The island where we had docked is called St Vincent and is one of 10 islands that make up Cape Verde. This is the main harbour and is almost encircled by volcanic hills that look like broken teeth on the horizon.

The harbour was pretty busy with yachts and boats of all shapes and sizes. There were also fair sized ferries that travel between the islands.

We were booked to go on a tour of Mindelo. It was the first tour we had arranged back in June last year – our first excursion! Very exciting and anxiety making as we had to be ready to go at 8.30.

No time for deck walks this morning!

Just before 8.20 – as directed we descended to deck 4 (we are on deck 6) and escaped ashore. No long gangplanks here – we were straight onto the dockside where our small tourist bus and Flávio, our guide, awaited us. Driver Tony was at the wheel. There were about 14 of us, all from our ship, and I had not seen any of them before! We have some way to go before we know them all!

First stop was the New Square. Previously it was edged by a low brick wall – those who had shoes could walk in the square, those that hadn’t couldn’t. The brick wall has now been removed. Cape Verde was a Portuguese colony but gained independence in 1975. The main language is still Portuguese but Creole is the national language and a different dialect is spoken on each of the 10 islands. Mindelo is the cultural capital, but the capital of Cape Verde is Praia which is on the island of Santiago. Only one the islands which make up Cape Verde is not inhabited. The Portuguese found the island (our guide made it very clear that it was not discovered but found) in the 15th century and the island played a significant role in the slave trade and had also given the Portuguese a stepping off point for the Crusades.

There is an old and modern side to Mindelo. It has a good beach and the sea water maintains a constant temperature of 22 – 25 degrees which is probably why Cape Verde is an up and coming holiday resort for Europeans……

The Cape Verde Independence Day is the 5th July.

The New Square was built by the Scots who used the old square to store coal. To compensate for this they built the new town square from material shipped from Scotland including the bandstand that still sports iron pillars with ‘Made in Glasgow’ on them.

Much of the architecture is colonial style.

The people of Cape Verdi are very proud of their singer Cesaria Evora, who I had actually heard of. She was internationally famous and much vaunted by the music world including, it seems, Madonna, whose latest album is a tribute to Evora. Cesaria Evera died in 2011. She usually appeared on stage without shoes and was known as the Barefoot Diva. There is an amazing mural of her in the town,,,,,

As it was Sunday many of the shops were closed but one enterprising lady was selling fish on a street corner.

The religion of the area is 95 per cent Catholic but people are free to worship who they like. It was interesting to see Sunday being observed almost universally as a holy day and the people going to Church reminded me of driving through South East London on a Sunday morning with people attending church in large numbers all dressed in their Sunday best with the women wearing hats and children in uncomfortable new clothes.

All children are given a year’s pre school free and then are expected to attend school until they are 12 after which they move into higher education. There is 98 per cent literacy and English and French are taught in school as well as Portuguese.

Mindelo is known for its carnival which takes place over five days.

The facts and figures about Cape Verde came thick and fast, the above just being a snapshot of my learning, but I think I have caught the drift…..

We were then taken to one of the hotels, of which there are an increasing number, to experience some of the local food, drink and some dancing. It was all very colourful, We also sampled some of the local drinks – I had some very tasty rum with honey that made a good short drink – more would have gone straight to my eyebrows! Keith sampled the hibiscus drink which was nice, complex but a bit sweet,

We then set off back to the boat for a spot of lunch before sallying forth again for a stroll around the town. It feels very much like a case of ‘work in progress’ as Cape Verde takes its place as a ‘go to’ destination for the discerning traveller.

We then returned to the Aurora – which tended to dominate the new harbour

We then had free time until dinner but decided to go and see the ship leaving the port and the sun setting … We emerged on deck to find a little tug, which seemed very small compared to the size of Aurora, pulling us out…..

And then the tug disappeared and we were left to our own devices and a wonderful sunset. Beautiful.

It was then time to eat. Here it may be time to comment on the food on board. It is excellent! Tonight’s menu was fairly typical with multiple choices in the meals provided but each night at dinner you are given the opportunity to pay a little more to upgrade your meal. Keith did this this evening and was delighted with the result. To eat his in London would, we believe, have probably cost at least £100. He is constantly mystified at how this high standard can be delivered at every meal for 1800 people!!

There are a number of post dinner entertainment options. In the event we decided to pass on the Bruno Mars tribute act – who Keith kept confusing with Olly Murs. That could have been embarrassing!

So it was back to out cabin for a bit of diary writing and revisiting the day. It has been pretty full on, again!

Tonight we put the clocks back by an hour again. This is all very well doing it this way but what worries me is putting them all back before we get home……. a challenge for another day!

A few more pics from the day!