This is Heaven compared to the rest of West Africa. No touts, harassment, corrupt police. Everything and everybody (almost) are professional. Streets are clean and everything is orderly. No bored young men which are signs of potential trouble. Everything is straight forward. And we asked ourselves, what the hell were we doing in West Africa?
I had no expectations about the sights of Cape Verde and was pleasantly surprised by the weather and the pretty sights. Santiago, the island on which Praia (the capital of Cape Verde) was located, was pretty with dramatic mountain landscapes and nice Portuguese architecture. We walked around Praia, and then drove round the island, visited the valleys of the interior, the far north Fascist concentration camps, the pretty coastal fishing villages and the soon-to-be World Heritage Site, Cidade Velha. The islands are supposed to be even nicer. Pity we didn't have enough time to explore the other islands.
Also bought air ticket for Banjul-Bamako for CVE 32,000 (abt Euro 290). Interesting to note that the entire retail scene of Praia appears to be controlled by the Mainland Chinese. So many of them here.
Today, we will fly to Bissau, capital of the small Portuguese speaking Republic of Guinea-Bissau.
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