Cabo Verde - An Oasis of Friendly People, Beautiful Nature and Excellent Food – Part 1

At the moment, I'm turning on the "autopilot" and leaving the introduction to artificial intelligence, and in the following I will share with you my experience of wandering around the largest island of this African country.

Artificial intelligence cannot replace travel journalists

Cape Verde, also known as Cabo Verde, is an island country located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa. The country is composed of ten islands and five islets, all of volcanic origin. The islands are divided into two groups, the Barlavento Islands and the Sotavento Islands, which are separated by a channel approximately 60 km wide.

Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in 1975, and since then has been a stable and democratic nation. The country has a population of around 550,000 people, with the majority living on the islands of Santiago and São Vicente.

The official language of Cape Verde is Portuguese, but Cape Verdean Creole is also widely spoken. The country's culture is a mix of African and European influences, with a strong emphasis on music and dance.

Cape Verde's economy is heavily reliant on tourism, remittances from Cape Verdeans living abroad, and the service sector. The country has a tropical climate with a rainy season from August to October and a dry season from December to June. The islands offer a range of activities for tourists, including hiking, beach holidays, and water sports.

Overall, Cape Verde is a unique and interesting destination with a rich cultural heritage and stunning natural beauty.

Despite a pretty good introduction, which I myself wouldn't have written significantly differently, I'm turning off the "autopilot" at this moment and continuing with my own experience that I want to share with you.

Practical advice for everyone, this travelogue will convince that the Cape Verde is worth visiting

In practice, the journey begins with the search for plane tickets, which are difficult to find at a good price, even from a more distant airport, especially if we want to go there in an attractive period, such as the May Day holiday. When we do find affordable tickets, we still need to find affordable accommodation and fill out the EASE form, which can be found at https://www.ease.gov.cv/ and fill it in at least 5 days before departure. Here, I would like to point out that there are some online agencies that charge their own extra costs for the same document.

From the introduction prepared with the help of artificial intelligence, we have already established that the best time to visit is between December and June, and I would just like to add that Cape Verde is one of the safer African countries, where attacks on visitors are quite rare, but I still recommend at least a basic precaution. Given that they have relatively good roads and that they drive on the right, renting a car is the best form of transport if you want to get to know almost the entire island in a relatively short time and stop to see the sights, take photos or refresh yourself in the sea. If you decide to rent a car, I recommend one of the local agencies, as they are cheaper and more flexible than international ones, which we experienced ourselves, as the driver of the other vehicle forgot his driver's licence at home, but we registered another driver without any problems and at no cost, which is usually not possible with larger agencies, or is related to some fees.

But even before we met the representative of the car rental agency, we equipped our mobile phones with local SIM cards, which for €9 offer a sufficient amount of data and a limited number of local free calls and SMS messages. The purchase of a SIM card was already the first event that artificial intelligence cannot conjure up for you. Right before the exit from the airport building, two girls were waiting in an "ambush", one in blue, the other in orange, offering SIM cards from two different operators. Each claimed that theirs was better, but none could explain why. Both offered the same amount of data and the same benefits at the same price, so I tossed a coin in front of them to decide which provider to choose.

After collecting the vehicles, it was time to leave the airport and go on adventures. And it was the capital Praia that was our first destination, where we first looked for a bank and exchanged some money together, because cards are rarely accepted, and the exchange outside of exchange offices (for example, in restaurants or shops) is about 10% worse than the official one. Given that the bank has a fixed fee for withdrawing money, I advise you to collect all the money you want to exchange and make only one exchange of a larger amount of money.

From the new to the old capital

With Cape Verdean escudos in our pockets, after a brief tour of the oldest part of the city with the presidential palace and some museums, we head to the city market, where everything is available, from live chickens and pigs, clothes, souvenirs, fruit and vegetables, as well as prepared food, which we also tried. The preparation of food at the market does not seem appealing to the eye, but the fact that several hundred people regularly eat there every day speaks in favour of the fact that the food is certainly fresh and impeccable. Among the offer, fish prepared in different ways is at the forefront, but there is also plenty of choice for lovers of other types of meat and vegetarians. If we add to this that the price of an individual meal is around three euros, lunch at the market is certainly the right choice, even if we will eat it standing up. For those for whom the smaller and somewhat more organised city market was not a challenge, I suggest that you go to Sucupira street, where the market of the same name is located next to the main bus station, which is significantly larger than the city market, but at the same time more chaotic and where you can find almost everything.

Strengthened by the specialities of the local cuisine, pleasantly tired, we go to a few more points in the capital and to the oldest settlement on the island, which was founded as the first European colonial city in the tropics in 1462 under the name Riebaira Grande, and in the 18th century it was renamed Cidade Velha or in translation "old city". The biggest attraction is definitely the fortress, which towers over the city and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. In addition to the fortress, I highly recommend visiting the historic centre of the city with the famous marble column from the 16th century and small streets that, like a time machine, move us to another era. With a bit of luck, you will come across a band that will rock you to the rhythms of the Cape Verde. The city also offers some quality restaurants, where you can enjoy almost every speciality for ten euros or fewer, and a well-kept coast or beach, where you can refresh yourself and prepare to explore the rest of the island of Santiago, where we will go together in the second and last part of the travelogue.