Ribeira Grande, Santo AntãoCape Verde

Santo Antão, Up the Ribeira Grande


The Great Aqueduct
Holy Crucifix Football Club
Colorful Conviviality
place in the background
Exuberant end of day
Blessed Casario
The top of Penha de França
Sun & Shadow
Ribeira Grande vs Atlantico
Monumental Path
Ribeira Grande vs Atlântico II
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More Places
There's a Cat in the Tasca
The Colonial Buildings
Seller
verdant green
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Originally a tiny village, Ribeira Grande followed the course of its history. It became the village, later the city. It has become an eccentric and unavoidable junction on the island of Santo Antão.

When examining the map, we realized that there were two paths that allowed us to go from Porto Novo, the capital, to the second city.

One of them, Estrada da Corda, was inland and towards the mountains of Santo Antão. The other followed northeast and flexed northwest, always by the seaside no less dizzying.

Equipped with a powerful pick-up, we decided to make our debut for Rope Road.

Even if demanding, in terms of driving, one of the most incredible rewards of the route proved to be the steep descent from the top of Delgadinho to Povoação, which is like saying Ribeira Grande.

Ribeira Grande, as a Visual Reward of Estrada da Corda

Gradually, through successive ones, increasingly tight, the boardwalk passes to the northern slope of the mountains. Curve after curve, reveals an unexpected multicolored houses.

Let's place it over the entrance to the valley. Over the alluvial delta in which, after the rains, the streams of Ribeira da Torre and Ribeira Grande are found, the latter, which since 2010 lends its name to the city, neighboring Ponta do Sol.

It is inaugurated by a strange stream of buildings, some with the characteristic gray of the plaster, alternating with neighbors of their colors. As we glimpse them, they seem to hover over the deep blue Atlantic.

The approach ends up revealing them crowning the mountain crest of the Penha de França neighborhood that, to the west, seals the city from the sea.

We continued down. From the Segundo Espelho hill, towards the sandy bed, above countless improvised roofs and terraces.

From that perspective, they looked like an experimental lego composition, blessed by the crosses and towers lost in the polychrome whole.

A last U of the road, leaves us side by side with the last meters of Ribeira da Torre, and overlooking the bed, then dry, of volcanic gravel.

We walked along the riverside. We parked next to a service station near the central roundabout in Povoação.

The Pedestrian Discovery of Povoação (Ribeira Grande)

Let's untangle the legs. We switch to a long-awaited pedestrian mode.

On foot, we look for the urban core of Terreiro, one of the six well-demarcated areas that make up Ribeira Grande, which is home to the institutions that make Santo Antão work:

the bank, the post office, shops and small shops, some of the ever-present Chinese expats, warehouses, grocery stores, the occasional tavern, the Chierry boutique, on the ground floor of a dark yellow building that matches the light blue, crowned with a cross, from the Church of the Nazarene.

Between the two, there is also a Parisian-style lamp, like the ones that abound in the distant former Portuguese metropolis.

Ribeira Grande: the Pioneer Village of Santo Antão

The island of Santo Antão was discovered in 1462, uninhabited, like the rest of the Cape Verde archipelago. The first attempt at colonization only took place in 1548.

And the settlement that would give rise to Povoação dates back to the XNUMXth century, carried out with people from the islands of fire quality Santiago which were joined by settlers embarked in the north of Portugal.

The choice of the area through which we continued to roam followed an unequivocal logic of water abundance and soil fertility. In this context, Santo Antão has its bipolar aspect.

Most of the slopes facing south and located further south, in the shadow of the great elevations, are arid and inhospitable. There, where colonization was outlined, a fortuitous combination of advantages, from an early age, augured success.

The north coast of the island retained the humidity blown, continuously by the Alísios. As if that were not enough, the settlers dictated to Povoação over the double mouth of two of the main streams of Santo Antão.

At the time, according to the tides and the direction and strength of the wind, the sea rose more or less along its beds and formed an inlet. Over time, it is estimated that during the XNUMXth century, the mouth of the streams silted up.

Only almost during the rainy season, in August and September, the Grande and Torre streams reach the Atlantic with a flow worthy of the wide and deep gorges through which they flow.

This dryness and fluvial parsimony allowed that, over time, Povoação spread across a large part of the alluvial delta.

From Penha de França to Terreiro and Tarrafal da Ribeira Grande

Always on the historic and perpetual boardwalk, we explored more of other areas of the city. We crossed a bridge to the neighborhood of Tarrafal, which the width of the dry bed of the Tower keeps isolated.

At that time, a fierce match takes place over the Santo Crucifixo Futebol Clube's naked game, which, behold the strangeness, has, a few meters away, the company of a certain "masturbation bar".

The lack of space trapped the field between the houses, the gravel of the stream and the exit road to the northeast coast of the island.

The naked was located so close to the basaltic sand that any strong and misdirected kick, delivers the ball to the ocean.

There, too, we get lost in the charm of Ribeira Grande.

Four young people hang out at the entrance of another bar, all with flip-flops on their feet, two boys in hats, two girls with hair in different Creole styles.

The Lush Murals That Decorate Ribeira Grande

On the other side of the street, another group of older residents sits on benches at the base of one of the large murals that adorn the city.

Several of them are authored by Ozmo, heteronym of Gionata Nesti, an Italian street artist who has left impressive works to the world, including those in the western reaches of Cape Verde.

We come across other of his paintings. Some, we are inspired by photos in which we make them interact with the residents, in which we make them living elements of the old Ribeira Grande.

A group of kids have fun posing against the profile of a honey-eyed Creole who rests with a Cape Verdean kingfisher (Passarinha) perched on one arm.

With the afternoon in the middle, we perceive the shadow taking over the respective wall. We decided to return to the pick up and venture up the Ribeira Grande bed.

Along Ribeira Grande Acima, towards Fajãzinha

In the image of the Ribeira da Torre valley, this one also reveals itself to be wide, sculpted by millennia in which the water flowed there in torrents and much more abundantly.

At spaces, we find plantations that fill in careful terraces, in the middle of slopes that rise with serrated peaks that seem to tear the sky. We pass under an aqueduct built in a curve where the valley narrows in the shape of a gorge.

Around it, sugar cane, cassava, corn and beans abound, key to Cachupa, the Cape Verdean national dish.

The valley opens up again. It forces us to climb to higher lands and into the mountains, along a little road that, lost in such wrinkled monumentality, could be called “Insignificance”.

On the opposite side of the slope, sheltered from the Alísios, the soil dries up again. The twilight seizes the back of the thalwegs. In one of them, the silhouette of a mini-forest of coconut trees cuts the ocher-green face of the cliffs.

Unexpectedly, the path reveals one or two fearless villages. In one of them, there is a grocery store with conscientious owners who, by way of warning, christened it “As far as possible".

We pass Coculi and several Bocas, where tributary streams, in the case of Chã de Pedra, coming from further up the mountain, join the Grande. First, the Boca de Corral.

Then, the Boca de Ambos Ribeiras.

At that time, we felt the geological heart of Santo Antão throbbing. Its roar is so strong that it makes us intimidated.

In the vicinity of Garça de Cima, a wide meander of the road sends us back to the top of the island. We bend towards its northeast coast, along the deep canyon of a third main stream, that of Garça.

We find it already in the last third of its steep 8km route, starting at 1810m from Lombo Gudo.

As with the other streams of Santo Antão and, throughout the Macaronesia island of MadeiraFrom an early age, the settlers developed a complex system of levadas that, as the name implies, allow them to carry water wherever crops and livestock need it.

It was, to a large extent, this system that enabled the formation of remote settlements of considerable size, surrounded by smallholdings, such as Chã de Igreja and neighboring Fajãnzinha.

Despite the imminence of the jagged mouth and, once again from the Atlantic, dusk and pitch forced us to decree Fajãnzinha the final destination of the day.

Santo Antão, Cape Verde

Up and Down the Estrada da Corda

Santo Antão is the westernmost of the Cape Verde Islands. There lies an Atlantic and rugged threshold of Africa, a majestic insular domain that we begin by unraveling from one end to the other of its dazzling Estrada da Corda.
Santo Antão, Cape Verde

Porto Novo to Ribeira Grande the Seaside Way

Once settled in Porto Novo, Santo Antão, we soon notice two routes to the second largest village on the island. Once surrendered to the monumental up-and-down of Estrada da Corda, the volcanic and Atlantic drama of the coastal alternative dazzles us.
Ponta do Sol a Fontainhas, Santo Antão, Cape Verde

A Vertiginous Journey from Ponta do Sol

We reach the northern tip of Santo Antão and Cape Verde. On a new afternoon of radiant light, we follow the Atlantic bustle of the fishermen and the less coastal day-to-day life of Ponta do Sol. With sunset imminent, we inaugurate a gloomy and intimidating quest of the village of Fontainhas.
São Nicolau, Cape Verde

Photography of Nha Terra São Nicolau

The voice of the late Cesária Verde crystallized the feeling of Cape Verdeans who were forced to leave their island. who visits São Nicolau or, wherever it may be, admires images that illustrate it well, understands why its people proudly and forever call it their land.
Chã das Caldeiras, Fogo Island Cape Verde

A "French" Clan at the Mercy of Fire

In 1870, a Count born in Grenoble on his way to Brazilian exile, made a stopover in Cape Verde where native beauties tied him to the island of Fogo. Two of his children settled in the middle of the volcano's crater and continued to raise offspring there. Not even the destruction caused by the recent eruptions deters the prolific Montrond from the “county” they founded in Chã das Caldeiras.    
Cidade Velha, Cape Verde

Cidade Velha: the Ancient of the Tropico-Colonial Cities

It was the first settlement founded by Europeans below the Tropic of Cancer. In crucial times for Portuguese expansion to Africa and South America and for the slave trade that accompanied it, Cidade Velha became a poignant but unavoidable legacy of Cape Verdean origins.

Boa Vista Island, Cape Verde

Boa Vista Island: Atlantic waves, Dunas do Sara

Boa Vista is not only the Cape Verdean island closest to the African coast and its vast desert. After a few hours of discovery, it convinces us that it is a piece of the Sahara adrift in the North Atlantic.
Santa Maria, Sal Island, Cape Verde

Santa Maria and the Atlantic Blessing of Sal

Santa Maria was founded in the first half of the XNUMXth century, as a salt export warehouse. Today, thanks to the providence of Santa Maria, Sal Ilha is worth much more than the raw material.
Fogo Island, Cape Verde

Around the Fogo Island

Time and the laws of geomorphology dictated that the volcano-island of Fogo rounded off like no other in Cape Verde. Discovering this exuberant Macaronesian archipelago, we circled around it against the clock. We are dazzled in the same direction.
São Nicolau, Cape Verde

São Nicolau: Pilgrimage to Terra di Sodade

Forced matches like those that inspired the famous morna “soda” made the pain of having to leave the islands of Cape Verde very strong. Discovering saninclau, between enchantment and wonder, we pursue the genesis of song and melancholy.
Chã das Caldeiras a Mosteiros, Fogo Island, Cape Verde

Chã das Caldeiras to Mosteiros: descent through the Ends of Fogo

With the Cape Verde summit conquered, we sleep and recover in Chã das Caldeiras, in communion with some of the lives at the mercy of the volcano. The next morning, we started the return to the capital São Filipe, 11 km down the road to Mosteiros.
Brava, Cape Verde

Cape Verde Brave Island

During colonization, the Portuguese came across a moist and lush island, something rare in Cape Verde. Brava, the smallest of the inhabited islands and one of the least visited of the archipelago, preserves the authenticity of its somewhat elusive Atlantic and volcanic nature.
island of salt, Cape Verde

The Salt of the Island of Sal

At the approach of the XNUMXth century, Sal remained lacking in drinking water and practically uninhabited. Until the extraction and export of the abundant salt there encouraged a progressive population. Today, salt and salt pans add another flavor to the most visited island in Cape Verde.
Santiago, Cape Verde

Santiago from bottom to top

Landed in the Cape Verdean capital of Praia, we explore its pioneer predecessor city. From Cidade Velha, we follow the stunning mountainous ridge of Santiago to the unobstructed top of Tarrafal.
Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde

The Miracle of São Vicente

São Vicente has always been arid and inhospitable to match. The challenging colonization of the island subjected the settlers to successive hardships. Until, finally, its providential deep-water bay enabled Mindelo, the most cosmopolitan city and the cultural capital of Cape Verde.
Nova Sintra, Brava, Cape Verde

A Creole Sintra, instead of Saloia

When Portuguese settlers discovered the island of Brava, they noticed its climate, much wetter than most of Cape Verde. Determined to maintain connections with the distant metropolis, they called the main town Nova Sintra.
Tarrafal, Santiago, Cape Verde

The Tarrafal of Freedom and Slow Life

The village of Tarrafal delimits a privileged corner of the island of Santiago, with its few white sand beaches. Those who are enchanted there find it even more difficult to understand the colonial atrocity of the neighboring prison camp.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beaches
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
safari
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
Thorong La, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, photo for posterity
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 13th - High camp a Thorong La to Muktinath, Nepal

At the height of the Annapurnas Circuit

At 5416m of altitude, the Thorong La Gorge is the great challenge and the main cause of anxiety on the itinerary. After having killed 2014 climbers in October 29, crossing it safely generates a relief worthy of double celebration.
by the shadow
Architecture & Design
Miami, USA

A Masterpiece of Urban Rehabilitation

At the turn of the 25st century, the Wynwood neighbourhood remained filled with abandoned factories and warehouses and graffiti. Tony Goldman, a shrewd real estate investor, bought more than XNUMX properties and founded a mural park. Much more than honoring graffiti there, Goldman founded the Wynwood Arts District, the great bastion of creativity in Miami.
Totems, Botko Village, Malekula, Vanuatu
Aventura
Malekula, Vanuatu

Meat and Bone Cannibalism

Until the early XNUMXth century, man-eaters still feasted on the Vanuatu archipelago. In the village of Botko we find out why European settlers were so afraid of the island of Malekula.
Big Freedia and bouncer, Fried Chicken Festival, New Orleans
Ceremonies and Festivities
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Big Freedia: in Bounce Mode

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz and jazz sounds and resonates in its streets. As expected, in such a creative city, new styles and irreverent acts emerge. Visiting the Big Easy, we ventured out to discover Bounce hip hop.
Perth Lonely City Australia, CBD
Cities
Perth, Australia

the lonely city

More 2000km away from a worthy counterpart, Perth is considered the most remote city on the face of the Earth. Despite being isolated between the Indian Ocean and the vast Outback, few people complain.
Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo, Japan
Lunch time
Tokyo, Japan

The Fish Market That Lost its Freshness

In a year, each Japanese eats more than their weight in fish and shellfish. Since 1935, a considerable part was processed and sold in the largest fish market in the world. Tsukiji was terminated in October 2018, and replaced by Toyosu's.
khinalik, Azerbaijan Caucasus village, Khinalig
Culture
Chinalig, Azerbaijan

The Village at the Top of Azerbaijan

Set in the rugged, icy 2300 meters of the Great Caucasus, the Khinalig people are just one of several minorities in the region. It has remained isolated for millennia. Until, in 2006, a road made it accessible to the old Soviet Ladas.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Sport
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
Manatee Creek, Florida, United States of America
Traveling
Florida Keys, USA

The Caribbean Stepping Stone of the USA

Os United States continental islands seem to close to the south in its capricious peninsula of Florida. Don't stop there. More than a hundred islands of coral, sand and mangroves form an eccentric tropical expanse that has long seduced American vacationers.
Colonial Church of San Francisco de Assis, Taos, New Mexico, USA
Ethnic
Taos, USA

North America Ancestor of Taos

Traveling through New Mexico, we were dazzled by the two versions of Taos, that of the indigenous adobe hamlet of Taos Pueblo, one of the towns of the USA inhabited for longer and continuously. And that of Taos city that the Spanish conquerors bequeathed to the Mexico, Mexico gave in to United States and that a creative community of native descendants and migrated artists enhance and continue to praise.
sunlight photography, sun, lights
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 2)

One Sun, So Many Lights

Most travel photos are taken in sunlight. Sunlight and weather form a capricious interaction. Learn how to predict, detect and use at its best.
North Island, New Zealand, Maori, Surfing time
History
North Island, New Zealand

Journey along the Path of Maority

New Zealand is one of the countries where the descendants of settlers and natives most respect each other. As we explored its northern island, we became aware of the interethnic maturation of this very old nation. Commonwealth as Maori and Polynesia.
Savai'i, Samoa, Polynesian island. South Pacific, Safotu Church
Islands
Savai’i, Samoa

The Great Samoa

Upolu is home to the capital and much of the tourist attention. On the other side of the Apolima strait, the also volcanic Savai'i is the largest and highest island in the archipelago of Samoa and the sixth in the immense Polynesia. Samoans praise her authenticity so much that they consider her the soul of the nation.
coast, fjord, Seydisfjordur, Iceland
Winter White
Seydisfjordur, Iceland

From the Art of Fishing to the Fishing of Art

When shipowners from Reykjavik bought the Seydisfjordur fishing fleet, the village had to adapt. Today, it captures Dieter Roth's art disciples and other bohemian and creative souls.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Literature
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
Armenian Church, Sevanavank Peninsula, Lake Sevan, Armenia
Nature
lake sevan, Armenia

The Bittersweet Caucasus Lake

Enclosed between mountains at 1900 meters high, considered a natural and historical treasure of Armenia, Lake Sevan has never been treated as such. The level and quality of its water has deteriorated for decades and a recent invasion of algae drains the life that subsists in it.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Pitões das Junias, Montalegre, Portugal
Natural Parks
Montalegre, Portugal

Through Alto do Barroso, Top of Trás-os-Montes

we moved from Terras de Bouro for those of Barroso. Based in Montalegre, we wander around the discovery of Paredes do Rio, Tourém, Pitões das Júnias and its monastery, stunning villages on the border of Portugal. If it is true that Barroso has had more inhabitants, visitors should not miss it.
Masada fortress, Israel
UNESCO World Heritage
Massada, Israel

Massada: The Ultimate Jewish Fortress

In AD 73, after months of siege, a Roman legion found that the resisters at the top of Masada had committed suicide. Once again Jewish, this fortress is now the supreme symbol of Zionist determination
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Characters
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Balo Beach Crete, Greece, Balos Island
Beaches
Balos a Seitan Limani, Crete, Greece

The Bathing Olympus of Chania

It's not just Chania, the centuries-old polis, steeped in Mediterranean history, in the far northeast of Crete that dazzles. Refreshing it and its residents and visitors, Balos, Stavros and Seitan have three of the most exuberant coastlines in Greece.

Prayer flags in Ghyaru, Nepal
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 4th – Upper Banana to Ngawal, Nepal

From Nightmare to Dazzle

Unbeknownst to us, we are faced with an ascent that leads us to despair. We pulled our strength as far as possible and reached Ghyaru where we felt closer than ever to the Annapurnas. The rest of the way to Ngawal felt like a kind of extension of the reward.
The Toy Train story
On Rails
Siliguri a Darjeeling, India

The Himalayan Toy Train Still Running

Neither the steep slope of some stretches nor the modernity stop it. From Siliguri, in the tropical foothills of the great Asian mountain range, the Darjeeling, with its peaks in sight, the most famous of the Indian Toy Trains has ensured for 117 years, day after day, an arduous dream journey. Traveling through the area, we climb aboard and let ourselves be enchanted.
patpong, go go bar, bangkok, one thousand and one nights, thailand
Society
Bangkok, Thailand

One Thousand and One Lost Nights

In 1984, Murray Head sang the nighttime magic and bipolarity of the Thai capital in "One night in bangkok". Several years, coups d'etat, and demonstrations later, Bangkok remains sleepless.
herd, foot-and-mouth disease, weak meat, colonia pellegrini, argentina
Daily life
Colónia Pellegrini, Argentina

When the Meat is Weak

The unmistakable flavor of Argentine beef is well known. But this wealth is more vulnerable than you think. The threat of foot-and-mouth disease, in particular, keeps authorities and growers afloat.
Lion, Elephants, PN Hwange, Zimbabwe
Wildlife
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.