West Africa Cruise: Mindelo, Cape Verde (11.22.24)

Finally, Africa!  Cape Verde is a collection of islands in the Atlantic, just as the Canary Islands are, but Cape Verde is further south and closer to the coast of Africa.  Its people seem African, rather than European.  Dave and I walked around Mindelo ourselves, on November 22, 2024, and then took an island tour.

Praiha is the capital of Cape Verde, but Mindelo is its artistic heart.  The face of the most famous Cape Verde singer is plastered on a building in downtown Mindelo.

The Mindelo Cultural Center displays art of all sorts, including this collage of paintings depicting different Cape Verde women.

I bought a Cape Verde doll at the Cultural Center for my granddaughters and "greats."

The clerk was a beautiful local girl. She reminded me of Michelle Obama.

We stopped by the fish market.  The official language of Cape Verde is Portuguese, a heritage of its Portuguese colonization.

Fish buyers and brokers stood on the pier, waiting for the fishing boats to be unloaded.

Once the fish was off the boats, it was quickly sorted and sold.

Mindelo is known for its pastel buildings.  This pink creation is a government building.

This yellow building is a hospital, with nurses filing inside to work.

These buildings are shops.

We stopped by the produce market.  As in other African countries, there were tropical fruits (bananas), potatoes (sweet and white), and squash.

There were also signs of Chinese influence, as in much of Africa.

As a developing country, Cape Verde has more motorcycles than cars.

Our island guide introduced himself as an artist and, as we drove along, he sang to us from his new CD.

We drove up and up, along rough and winding roads, to the highest point on the island.  We could see the beaches and ocean below.

As we drove back down, we could see the picturesque city of Mindelo, and our ship in the harbor.

Our final stop, before returning to the ship, was at a turtle refuge center.