Santo Antão, Cape Verde

Porto Novo to Ribeira Grande the Seaside Way


New Port
The pastel houses of Porto Novo, the largest city in Santo Antão.
Praia dos Pescadores
Hammocks and boats in a fishing cove south of Porto Novo.
Shark's Hill
Car moves away from the almost conical Morro do Tubarão.
Tomb Tip
The first inlet in the north of Santo Antão, as seen from the top of Ponta Tumba.
The Tomb Tip Light
The Ponta Tumba lighthouse, shortly before its restoration.
the little tip
Pontinha da Janela, so called for very visible reasons.
Window Beacons
Two beacons on a field rendered useless by unexpected relief on the beach.
The window
The hole in the rock that inspired the name Window.
Google Store
Owner of Google grocery in conversation with a young and small family member.
The City of Pombas
The houses of Pombas extended along a well-defined coastal vertex.
Complicated Bath
Two friends help each other during a bath complicated by the large rolling boulders and the swell.
Dove Marginal
Coconut trees above a coastline of small pebbles, before the center of Pombas.
Old Trapiche
Cows run the centuries-old pier at the Ildo Benros farm.
Ildo Benros
Mr. Ildo Benros and an assistant next to a window of drinks on the farm.
Sugarcane Load
A worker on the Ildo Benros farm, he takes sugar cane to the warehouse.
Trapiche cattle
Cow and goat accompany the work of Mr. Ildo Benros's warehouse.
The squeezer Press
Farm worker Ildo Benros introduces sugar cane into the farm's old warehouse.
The houses of Janela
A sector of houses taken from the village of Janela.
walled corrals
Numbered structures that serve as corrals for various pig breeding, outside Ribeira Grande.
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.

As soon as we leave the pastel houses of Porto Novo behind, Santo Antão returns to the rawness and haughtiness of its geological origins, made of millions of years of upheaval and erosion.

In the almost absence of human marks, the splendor of the volcanism that raised it from the depths of the ocean. All this time expired, the Atlantic renews, moment by moment, its intimate relationship with the iron mountains of the island.

The first vision that catches us is that of a set of measured peaks that the sunlight makes to shine and that a cloak of dry mist, very dry and very white, tries, in vain, to embrace.

The coastal road completely clashes with the Rope Road. Zigzags to the northeast. It crosses a series of streams that, at mid-year, only dust and sand flowed.

Crossing André Col's road, the asphalt reveals the almost perfect cone of Morro de Tubarão.

Measuring a mere 325m, well below the 1585m of Pico da Cruz overlooking these parts, this striated legacy of the island's mother eruption leaves us awestruck, eager for what would follow.

We cross the arid bed of Ribeira Brava and the imaginary line that separates the municipalities of Porto Novo and Paul. Twenty minutes later, we were confronted with Ponta de Tumba.

Ponta de Tumba and the Old Lighthouse of Fontes Pereira de Melo

We still see the white, octagonal, dirty and ruined tower of a lighthouse. On a rusty structure, its old bell has several broken glass.

Just above, the sun, much higher, lights a jagged and deep bay.

Each time the dry mist releases it, it reinforces the watery, almost emerald green of the wind-beaten sea.

From where we were, we could only glimpse the northwest coast of Santo Antão.

Interested in unraveling it, intrigued by the lighthouse's stoic resistance, we decided to climb the walled trail, littered with thistles and cactus, and investigate it.

A sign as worn as the rest of the structure identified the "Pharol Antonio Maria de Fontes Pereira de Melo” built in 1886, in the reign of Dom Luís “the Popular”.

It remained active until 2006. Shortly after our visit, it was recovered and resumed contributing to the safety of navigation, treacherous in these parts of the Atlantic, the Alísios rock and shake mercilessly.

When we reach its base, the old lighthouse serves as an observation point.

Its promontory reveals the vagaries of the coast and a series of coves furrowed by the continuation of the road that has welcomed us for a long time.

Pontinha de Janela: another Unusual Village of Santo Antão

After more than an hour without hardly seeing any buildings, the lighthouse suggests a sharp peninsula that extended into the ocean, covered with houses and agricultural terraces until the sea made it impossible.

No reason to complicate matters, the place was handled by Pontinha. Less obvious, would be the reason why, out of nowhere, that almost amphibious patch welcomed so many people.

As we approached it, we realized how abrupt and inhospitable the north of Santo Antão was.

We understand how, accordingly, even more exposed to the wind and waves, an almost flat strip of land with easy access to the sea had been inhabited as a divine blessing, with the effort and merit with which Cape Verdeans became accustomed to survive.

Despite the tightness, there is room for a football pitch that gives meaning to the União Desportiva da Janela club, another reason for the commitment and pride of the villagers.

A hitherto hidden bay surprises us with several of the organic contrasts that the island is lavish.

The white marine foam breaks up on a threshold of basalt pebbles and boulders.

A few dozen meters inland, the stones and pebbles give way to some rough sand, two wooden goal posts planted in it, in an obvious footballistic despair.

Further up, on the slope side of the road, coconut and palm trees sprout from a narrow but lush agricultural plantation.

After the Tip of the Window, follows the Window.

As we walk along the village, made up of houses, some white, some colored, others the characteristic gray of unpainted cement blocks, a few more palm trees and coconut trees sprout, graced with the moisture the Trade Winds carry.

In terms of landscape, there is the perforated cliff that frames the ocean on the other side and which inspired the name of the town.

As far as history and its controversies are concerned, a small scrawled rock focuses attention.

The Pedra de Letreiro and Gavin Menzies' Despised Theory

In 2002, Gavin Menzies, a retired British Navy officer published “1421 – The Year China Discovered the World".

In the work, he explains what they consider evidence of maritime exploration in the world prior to the European one, between 1421 and 1423, by Chinese navigators, including the Cape of Good Hope folding, the Strait of Magellan and the arrival to Australia.

Menzies substantiated his theories during his travels through 120 countries and almost a thousand museums, libraries and medieval ports around the world.

Now, the slew of information he studied included a famous rock of Janela, the Pedra de Letreiro, which the locals call the Written Stone.

Like other authors, Menzies guarantees that he preserves inscriptions made by visitors to Santo Antão prior to the supposedly European pioneers.

An alliance of distinguished historians lashed out at Menzies. In three strokes and without embarrassment.

They confronted him with his theoretical bravado, in reality, based on a total lack of methodology and scientific seriousness.

Along with the inability to question and interpret historical data that reduced Menzies investigative wandering around the world to nothing.

The controversy intrigues us. We are committed to investigating the book, a task that remains on an accurate list arising from our own ramblings.

We hurried to return, to Santo Antão, along the increasingly steep coastline of the north coast.

By Lands of Paul and Vila (now city) das Pombas

After Pontinha de Janela, there is the Paul area, which gives the name to the municipality we were visiting.

Denotes a hillside area irrigated by three streams that flow from the higher lands (including Pico da Cruz), Paul, Janela and Penedo, responsible for a much more drenched and verdant soil than is normal in Santo Antao.

It is so fertile that it allows for several crops of sugar cane, bananas, cassava and even coffee.

In Paul, the car we were driving broke down. We took advantage of the wait for its replacement, to walk along the streets, especially the seaside, more airy ones.

We surrender to the heat and some tiredness. We settled in a restaurant to lunch freshly caught fish off the coast, with other Cape Verdean snacks.

In the meantime, a rent-a-car employee arrives with a replacement pick-up truck. Once again on motorbikes, we discovered observation points over Vila das Pombas, today promoted to the main city of the municipality of Paul.

Pombas extends over a fajã comparable to Pontinha, although laterally.

From where we admired it, a hedge of coconut trees rose above the seashore.

Not to vary, made of large rolling boulders on which, even in precocious balance, two young men faced the vigorous surf, given a refreshing sea bath.

followed by the cemetery .

And, to the north, the seaside houses, once again with unpainted blocks, with a few exceptions, in pastel tones, in one case or another, with bright, clashing colors.

We proceed on the seaside road, paying attention to the picturesque fashions, uses and customs of these parts.

A lady had turned part of her house into a grocery store. Betting that customers would find a little of everything there, she named it Google.

In the absence of customers, she remained at the window, accompanied by a child whose nose only reached the parapet, left to figure out who were the strangers her mother was chatting with.

The centuries-old trapiche of Mr. Ildo Benrós

“Sõ Ildo? It's a very simple door that you find in a long wall”, she informs us in a Portuguese as little Creole as possible.

The door opens onto a farmhouse arranged around an old country house, worn pink, with a walled earthen courtyard in front of it.

From the center of the land, the fulcrum of all operations emerges, a traditional warehouse that is at least four hundred years old.

The owner, Mr. Ildo Benrós, welcomes us.

Accustomed to tourist visits, more pragmatic than smiling.

Ildo puts us at ease, so we follow as closely as possible the various steps in the manufacture of the grog:

Carrying sugar cane from the plantation above the house.

The rigging of the oxen on the arm, the rotation of the mechanism.

The gradual insertion of sugarcane into the press, the source of the sweet and still fresh juice that one of the workers gives us to taste, in preparation for the grogue and poncha we ended up buying.

On the last stretch to Ribeira Grande, we pass through the village of Sinagoga.

And, a few kilometers ahead, along a slope that housed dozens of pig corrals, twinned in stone walls, placed there so as to ensure a hygienic distance from the owners' houses and the city in general.

Ribeira Grande did not take long.

It would be the first of several incursions into the big city on the other side of Santo Antão.

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.
São Vicente, Cape Verde

The Volcanic Arid Wonder of Soncente

A return to São Vicente reveals an aridity as dazzling as it is inhospitable. Those who visit it are surprised by the grandeur and geological eccentricity of the fourth smallest island in Cape Verde.
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.
Santiago, Cape Verde

Santiago Island 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.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Safari
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Muktinath to Kagbeni, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Kagbeni
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit 14th - Muktinath to Kagbeni, Nepal

On the Other Side of the Pass

After the demanding crossing of Thorong La, we recover in the cozy village of Muktinath. The next morning we proceed back to lower altitudes. On the way to the ancient kingdom of Upper Mustang and the village of Kagbeni that serves as its gateway.
Bay Watch cabin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,
Architecture & Design
Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities

Few coastlines concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the far southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessed by six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is manifestly meager for the number of souls who desire it.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Adventure
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
Kente Festival Agotime, Ghana, gold
Ceremonies and Festivities
Kumasi to Kpetoe, Ghana

A Celebration-Trip of the Ghanian Fashion

After some time in the great Ghanaian capital ashanti we crossed the country to the border with Togo. The reasons for this long journey were the kente, a fabric so revered in Ghana that several tribal chiefs dedicate a sumptuous festival to it every year.
gaudy courtship
Cities
Suzdal, Russia

Thousand Years of Old Fashioned Russia

It was a lavish capital when Moscow was just a rural hamlet. Along the way, it lost political relevance but accumulated the largest concentration of churches, monasteries and convents in the country of the tsars. Today, beneath its countless domes, Suzdal is as orthodox as it is monumental.
Singapore Asian Capital Food, Basmati Bismi
Meal
Singapore

The Asian Food Capital

There were 4 ethnic groups in Singapore, each with its own culinary tradition. Added to this was the influence of thousands of immigrants and expatriates on an island with half the area of ​​London. It was the nation with the greatest gastronomic diversity in the Orient.
Tombola, street bingo-Campeche, Mexico
Culture
Campeche, Mexico

A Bingo so playful that you play with puppets

On Friday nights, a group of ladies occupy tables at Independencia Park and bet on trifles. The tiniest prizes come out to them in combinations of cats, hearts, comets, maracas and other icons.
combat arbiter, cockfighting, philippines
Sport
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Prayer flags in Ghyaru, Nepal
Traveling
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.
Tulum, Mayan Ruins of the Riviera Maya, Mexico
Ethnic
Overall, Mexico

The Most Caribbean of the Mayan Ruins

Built by the sea as an exceptional outpost decisive for the prosperity of the Mayan nation, Tulum was one of its last cities to succumb to Hispanic occupation. At the end of the XNUMXth century, its inhabitants abandoned it to time and to an impeccable coastline of the Yucatan peninsula.
Portfolio, Got2Globe, Best Images, Photography, Images, Cleopatra, Dioscorides, Delos, Greece
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

The Earthly and the Celestial

Missions, San Ignacio Mini, Argentina
History
San Ignacio Mini, Argentina

The Impossible Jesuit Missions of San Ignacio Mini

In the century. In the XNUMXth century, the Jesuits expanded a religious domain in the heart of South America by converting the Guarani Indians into Jesuit missions. But the Iberian Crowns ruined the tropical utopia of the Society of Jesus.
View of Serra do Cume, Terceira Island, Unique Azores
Islands
Terceira Island, Azores

Terceira Island: Journey through a Unique Archipelago of the Azores

It was called the Island of Jesus Christ and has radiated, for a long time, the cult of the Holy Spirit. It houses Angra do Heroísmo, the oldest and most splendid city in the archipelago. These are just two examples. The attributes that make Terceira island unique are endless.
Maksim, Sami people, Inari, Finland-2
Winter White
Inari, Finland

The Guardians of Boreal Europe

Long discriminated against by Scandinavian, Finnish and Russian settlers, the Sami people regain their autonomy and pride themselves on their nationality.
View from the top of Mount Vaea and the tomb, Vailima village, Robert Louis Stevenson, Upolu, Samoa
Literature
Upolu, Samoa

Stevenson's Treasure Island

At age 30, the Scottish writer began looking for a place to save him from his cursed body. In Upolu and the Samoans, he found a welcoming refuge to which he gave his heart and soul.
Lonely Walk, Namib Desert, Sossusvlei, Namibia, dune base acacia
Nature
Sossusvlei, Namíbia

The Namibe Dead End of Sossusvlei

When it flows, the ephemeral Tsauchab river meanders 150km from the mountains of Naukluft. Arriving in Sossusvlei, you get lost in a sea of ​​sand mountains that compete for the sky. The natives and settlers called it a swamp of no return. Anyone who discovers these far-fetched parts of Namibia always thinks of returning.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Principe Island, São Tomé and Principe
Natural Parks
Príncipe, São Tomé and Principe

Journey to the Noble Retreat of Príncipe Island

150 km of solitude north of the matriarch São Tomé, the island of Príncipe rises from the deep Atlantic against an abrupt and volcanic mountain-covered jungle setting. Long enclosed in its sweeping tropical nature and a contained but moving Luso-colonial past, this small African island still houses more stories to tell than visitors to listen to.
UNESCO World Heritage
Castles and Fortresses

A Defending World: Castles and Fortresses that Resist

Under threat from enemies from the end of time, the leaders of villages and nations built castles and fortresses. All over the place, military monuments like these continue to resist.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Characters
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.
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, Punta Cahuita aerial view
Beaches
Cahuita, Costa Rica

Dreadlocked Costa Rica

Traveling through Central America, we explore a Costa Rican coastline as much as the Caribbean. In Cahuita, Pura Vida is inspired by an eccentric faith in Jah and a maddening devotion to cannabis.
Cape Espichel, Sanctuary of Senhora do Cabo, Sesimbra,
Religion
Albufeira Lagoon ao Cape Espichel, Sesimbra, Portugal

Pilgrimage to a Cape of Worship

From the top of its 134 meters high, Cabo Espichel reveals an Atlantic coast as dramatic as it is stunning. Departing from Lagoa de Albufeira to the north, golden coast below, we venture through more than 600 years of mystery, mysticism and veneration of its aparecida Nossa Senhora do Cabo.
white pass yukon train, Skagway, Gold Route, Alaska, USA
On Rails
Skagway, Alaska

A Klondike's Gold Fever Variant

The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.
Tokyo, Japan catteries, customers and sphynx cat
Society
Tokyo, Japan

Disposable Purrs

Tokyo is the largest of the metropolises but, in its tiny apartments, there is no place for pets. Japanese entrepreneurs detected the gap and launched "catteries" in which the feline affections are paid by the hour.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, StreymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
Sheep and hikers in Mykines, Faroe Islands
Wildlife
Mykines, Faroe Islands

In the Faeroes FarWest

Mykines establishes the western threshold of the Faroe archipelago. It housed 179 people but the harshness of the retreat got the better of it. Today, only nine souls survive there. When we visit it, we find the island given over to its thousand sheep and the restless colonies of puffins.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
PT EN ES FR DE IT