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Cape Verde, Praia, Santiago Island

Arriving Praia, Santiago Island, Cape Verde November 20, 2022 from Mindelo, Cape Verde. We were to have arrived originally in Dakar, Senegal. We were told due to too many ship arrivals we were unable to obtain docking space and instead we sailed to Praia, Cape Verde where we are this morning now. Above you see the many buses waiting for us to disembark and visit today.

Praia in Portuguese is beach. It is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde. It is located on the southern coast of Santiago island .

Praia is the economic, political and cultural center of Cape Verde islands. We arrived on a Sunday morning. We pretty much had the town and island to ourselves. A great time to meet the locals.

Our Regent ship, Seven Seas Voyager in the distance.

The flag of Cape Verde Islands.

The Quartel Jaime Mota..Military Barracks Building for soldiers to stay. It is located across the street from the City Hall.

Soldiers in in the window of the Quartel, building.

Government Building.

You can see on the left is the Government guilding and on the right is the Quartel or MIitary barracks building for the soldiers to stay.

The ports of Santiago were important ports of call for ships sailing between Portugal and the Portuguese colonies in Africa and South America. Between the end of the 16th century and the end of the 18th century, Praia suffered many pirate attacks.

Monument Statue of Diego Gomes the Portuguese navigator who was one of the discoverers of the island of Santiago in 1460.

Ruins off in the distance

Looking at the city below

In the distance and hillsides

Beach below

Sunday morning Soccer game

Monument of Diego Gomas looking out to sea in the morning hours.

The Presidential Palace was constructed around 1894 in neoclassical style as a residence of the Portuguese governor of Cape Verde. After Cape Verde gained independence in 1975, it became the Presidential Palace.

A guard at the entrance to the Presidential Palace.

Interesting how the trees on both sides of the walkway grew over to form a sheltered walkway and cut flat on top.

Local advertisement for Coke

A local shop closed but in the window we can see all the items made locally. Too bad it wasnoit open as we could have cleaned out the shop if only they knew we were in town.

Name and telephone number of the shop.

It is Sunday morning early and we are the only persons out walking around.

Christmas is just a few weeks away and we find some decorations.

Pro-Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace

Amilcar Cabral was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence in Guinea-Bissau. He was assassinated on 20 January 1973, about eight months before Guinea-Bissau's unilateral declaration of independence.

This is a Museum dedicated to Cabral. His face was painted on the side of the building in the previous photo. He was deeply influenced by Marxism, becoming an inspiration to revolutionary socialists and national independence movements worldwide.

The bell tower is at the rear of the The Pro-Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace church across the street from the Amilcar Cabral Museum

A plaza area

Walking the streets we see faces of locals painted on a wall.

Another corner we find paintings of locals on buildings.

A gas station

Entrance to the Real Fortaluza de Sao Felipe.. Fort San Felipe.

Looking down from the fort to the village of Penedinho. In a few photos we will be at the church you see in this photo from the Fort.

History The fortress, fort San Felipe, was built under Philip I of Portugal between 1587 and 1593, little after Sir Francis Drake 's 1585 raid of Santiago.

History The fortress, fort San Felipe, was built under Philip I of Portugal between 1587 and 1593, little after Sir Francis Drake 's 1585 raid of Santiago.

Walking around the grounds of the Fort.

Looking at the coastline from the fort and the village below.

Cemetery below on the peninsula.

The winding road we take to get to the beach area of Penedinho.

Top of the fortress looking in all directions.

Rock ramp going from the dirt floor below to the top of the fortress.

Rock ramp going from the dirt floor below to the top of the fortress.

Exterior of Fort San Felipe to the parking areas.

We drove next to Penedinho and whilewalking around we heard music and had to check it out. It was great.

Looking up at Fort San Felipe where we had just been looking down.

Walking by the side door of the church we previously had seen from above it looked like a baptism was taking place with the priest.

Lots of parishioners leaving the service.

Ironically it looks like mainly the service were mothers, ladies and heir children. Not many male adults

As you can see many items hand made in the area are for sale.

This location in Penedinho was an infamous location for the sale of slaves. The legacy of slavery has had a significant impact on the culture of Cabo Verde. While the country has a diverse population with many cultural influences, the experience of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade have left a lasting imprint on Cabo Verdean society.

Here we see a shopper and a customer looking for something to take home.

The restaurant is overlooking the beach and ocean.

Great photo shot of boats on the beach and a building behind.

Looking up the beach from the restaurant.

A policeman overlooking all that is taking place.

A great place for people watching.

I think everyone on our ship ended up here from their tours. A great place to grab a cold drink and relax by the water.

Local kids with their bikes taking in all the tourists that over took their village plaza for an hour or so.

Yep I was just as curious and had a chance to walk around and speak with the local adults and teenagers. They wanted to know where we came from. We really were from all over the world too.

We drove up high in the mountain side of the island around 3,000 foot elevation for lunch. It was a beautiful drive with many curves and turns until we stopped at the top for our lunch.

Homes scattered across the hillside.

Also I wanted to mention that while driving in Praia, Cape Verde Island I spotted a large highway sign board at a high volume traffic circle on a major road reading, The United States of America welcomes you to come to America. I tried to shoot a photo but we were traveling too fast. I have heard of this before in various Latin American countries by people who live there.

This strange mountain shape like someone cut it up with a knife.

Enjoying the Sunday afternoon with friends and family.

Returning to our ship and getting ready to set sail for the Continent of Africa. Our next stop was to be Dakar, Senegal but due to some problems we are by passing Senegal and our next stop will be Bangul, Gambia .

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