In Cape Verde, life feels at the mercy of the elements. But hikes on Santo Antão island reveal the West African archipelago as a place where the people are welcoming and days end in passionate song with glasses of warming rum.
Hiking to the Bordeira do Norte on the island of Santo Antão involves zigzagging up sheer slopes of volcanic rock.In Cape Verde, life feels at the mercy of the elements. But hikes on Santo Antão island reveal the West African archipelago as a place where the people are welcoming and days end in passionate song with glasses of warming rum.On Santo Antão, silence can strike like a blow.
Murals add further colour. Cesária Évora, Cape Verde’s most famous morna singer, born in Mindelo, looms over Praça Dom Luís, her image covering the side of the library. But there’s street art everywhere here — piano keys and musical notes climb up to the rooftops, faces smile from shopfronts, sea creatures swim across rendered walls.It’s a vibrant introduction.
That evening, in Ponta do Sol, I try it again. The old town, sprawling on a peninsula at the island’s northern tip, has a handful of bars dotted along its wide, cobbled streets; I’ve bagged a table at Cantinho da Música, where owner Jaqueline Santos opens her roof terrace to a lucky few., a honey liqueur) but there’s no food menu to choose from; only one dish is served at each sitting, and tonight it’s grilled fish with fried cassava, rice and beans.
I’m staying in Ponta do Sol at B&B Coração, built from local stone by Belgian expats Wim and Hilde Van Belle-Van Gelder. My room has a balcony looking across an abandoned runway to the ocean. Since the airstrip closed following a crash in 1999, a ferry has been the only way to reach Santo Antão — although there are plans to open a new airport west of Porto Novo in the hope of bringing more tourists.
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