Santiago Island - Roteiro
The island of Santiago, the largest in the archipelago of Cape Verde, has almost 1,000km2 with almost 300,000 inhabitants. It is a palette of natural charms, historic treasures and of the cultural riches which we can find all over the country.
Here we can go to pleasant beaches, discover either lush or lunar landscapes and travel in history to the time of pirates and slavery. We can also feel the cosmopolitan or rural human warmth. We can climb up the sharp peaks or become lost in the green valleys, feel the essential tropical Africa in local markets, in unforgettable flavours, in local crafts, and in unique music which travels from here all over the world.
Here we can find the cradle, which was baptized Ribeira Grande, and is now known as Cidade Velha, or old city. There is now a silence and a peace which contrasts with the beginnings of the European incursion into the tropics of Africa via the first capital of the archipelago, the first city founded in Africa by the Portuguese.
In the Cidade Velha there is a mixture of memories left by the discoverers and settlers. There are some historic remains, most of them ruins, and houses with stone walls and sometimes thatched roofs. The lush vegetation of the valley, especially the coconut trees and the imposing baobabs, flows into town.
São Filipe Fort was built with stone from Portugal and Maio Island. In its time it defended the city from foreign incursions. During the years 1500 to 1600 there were constant attacks by famous corsairs such as Francis Drake and Cassard. Ribeira Grande was then a customs house for ships that transported slaves from the African coast to the rest of the world. From those times, there is the Senhora do Rosário Church, with its tombs and reasonably maintained tiles. The Cathedral, whose ruins were stabilised in a project by the famous architect Siza Vieira, are still waiting for a plan for restoration. The Pillory, of Manueline style, was erected in 1520. It bears witness to the violence to which the slaves were publicly subjected, and is one of the few pieces intact in the architecture of the city of Ribeira Grande.
The permanent instability caused the capital of the archipelago to be transferred in 1769 to the more tranquil Cidade da Praia. And time became lord and master of Cidade Velha.
Praia is urban Africa on Atlantic waters. The city seems to pulsate at Alexandre de Albuquerque Square, where those shopping in the Platô meet others coming out of the offices and religious buildings around it.
In the last few decades, the capital spread from the Platô and several new neighbourhoods were built. Some of them, such as Achada de Santo António, Palmarejo, Cidadela, Achadinha, Achada Grande and Achada de S. Filipe, are today important population areas with infrastructures which attract a large part of the life of the city. There are not only shops, but also official buildings, evening entertainment, gastronomy, and culture and sports.
The market of Platô should be visited. Agricultural products from the centre of the island are brought in by a bustle of women carrying their baskets, chatting loudly, carrying papaya, bananas, mangoes, cassava, tomatoes, tamarind, coconut, vegetables and other victuals, which the urban area needs for its daily cooking.
Sucupira, on the other hand, is a market-restaurant supplying the most varied consumer needs, from clothes and footwear to fruit and vegetables, which in the last 20 years established itself firmly in the valley separating Platô and Achadinha.
As a result of the astonishing expansion of the capital, Lisboa Avenue, southwards to the Governor’s Palace and heading north to Vila Nova Neighbourhood, became the new axis of the city and a mandatory passageway in and out of it.
Based in Praia there is the famous dance troop Raiz di Polón, whose performances are an attraction of very high artistic level.
The visitor may choose to swim at beaches such as Quebra Canela, Prainha and Mulher Branca. In Gamboa, a beach less used for bathing, there is a small quay which used to serve passenger ships during the last century. During the weekends it attracts sports lovers but has above all become known for the festival of the same name that takes place in May and draws to Praia well-known international performers.
Night time in Praia is a time of many choices, from the enticing tastes of the varied cuisine to the exhilaration or sadness of a music which is deeply rooted in the soul of the people. The nights at the Quintal da Música on Amílcar Cabral Avenue are a good example, especially when a group of batucadeiras swing their hips in the frantic characteristic singing of Santiago, an inheritance of the ancient but strong continental roots of Cape Verde’s population.
Leaving Praia for the north, and before one gets lost in successive mountainous valleys where the shape of the crests are a challenge to the imagination, a stop at São Domingos shows one of the richest green valleys of the island. Cape Verde souvenirs can be searched for at the Centro de Apoio à Produção Popular.
São Jorge de Órgãos, next, is a contrast with the roughness of the mountain cliffs. Here, in the quietness of dense vegetation, one can visit the only Botanical Gardenin the country. It is at the foot of the highest peak of Santiago, the Pico da Antónia. And if the visit is in the fourth quarter of the year, after brief rains, the traveller is assured lush vegetation.
Up above, in Rui Vaz, there is one of the most popular restaurants in the island, served by Quinta da Montanha, an agro-tourism guesthouse which uses the most recent irrigation methods and fine product selection.
On the other side of São Jorge, to the north, at Ribeira de Poilão, one can find the first important dam in the country, built to retain rain water. Recently constructed fields can already be seen on the fertile banks, visited by flocks of grey herons and wild pigeons.
The passarinha is a small bird with vivid colours endemic to this island, Fogo and Brava, which has multiplied and flies between clumps of bushes around the lake. Also noteworthy is the contrast played out by this island before and after the rains, which occur infrequently but heavily between July and October. These cause flooding in the river beds and cover green the whole surface of this land. Which, however, returns to its usual aridness in the first months of the year.
A little more than 60 kilometres from Praia, city and countryside blend in the very special atmosphere of Assomada. The market of the city is one of the most important centres of commercial exchange in the country, principally of agricultural goods. Here, to sell as much as to buy, converge inhabitants of the whole plateau. Visiting the Tabanka Museum is also a good idea.
Further on, leaving behind the island’s fertile and colourful central plateau, make a short visit to the south-east coast to see one of the many little ports of the island, the fishing village of Ribeira da Barca.
Right up in the north, after the Serra da Malagueta, one arrives at a place of contrasting emotions: Tarrafal. The bay is like a paradise, with light coloured sands, tepid crystalline water and the welcoming shade of imposing coconut trees – everything that beach lovers ever dreamt of. It is also a very important place for fishing.
In contrast with this natural beauty is the old prison complex built in the second quarter of the last century by the dictatorship which then ruled Portugal. Here, many political prisoners were held and common prisoners too, both from Portugal and from the Portuguese colonies of the time. A small museum tells the story of some of those prisoners, who should not be forgotten.
After one more magical encounter with the traditional gastronomy, in which cachupa, a hearty dish consisting of corn, beans, vegetables and different meats or fish is not to be missed, we begin our return trip by the north-east coast.
The landscape has changed. We can see small bays and groves, minute deserted beaches with black sands where occasionally some fishing boats lay rest. From small brooks every other turn of the road, we discover agricultural land stretching out to the sea. Ribeira de Principal, after Mangue das Sete Ribeiras and before arriving at Chã de Monte, is a rich land with an intense agricultural life.
Here, a traveller may come across some villages of rebellious farmers who have isolated themselves since the fourties in the past century in a kind of protest against what they consider a distortion of the principles they believe in. They are called Rabelados. They continue to consider themselves Christians, but have gone away from the concepts of official religion. They have been thought of as subversive, and have been an object of mistrust, both by the Catholic Church and by the authorities. They once believed in the changes brought by Independence, but their hopes were followed by disillusionment. They have closed themselves up again, and although there are new signs of reaching out, theRabelados keep themselves close to their principles. There are fewer now, as the young are more educated.
Leaving one of the most important townships of the island, São Miguel da Calheta, one arrives at Santa Cruz, a place where a traveller must stop to see the plantations of bananas, coconut palms and papaya trees, in a lush area leading on to an impressive sea mouth. A trip down the road cut through the plantation is dreamlike.
Santiago de Pedra Badejo is also an interesting village, with its little fishing port followed by an extensive plantation of coconut palms, cassava, banana trees, sugar cane and other crops, ending on a large stretch of black sand bordering the sea, always present on the winding northern coast of the island.
About 15 kilometres from Cidade da Praia, Praia Baixo extends an invitation one can’t refuse to find the warm transparent waters again. A short while ago this was almost a desert. Now the south-west coast, close to the capital, is growingly populated with resorts. Some, such as Sambala, close to São Francisco, are already under construction, or the Santiago Golf Resort, on the way out of Praia to the Cidade Velha. Others are at project stage, such as Ponta Bicuda, to the north of the capital, and others even are located in the municipalities of Santa Cruz and Santa Catarina.
A ring road linking the airport to Trindade and São Martinho Grande is now an important link in the urban development of the capital of Cape Verde, and allows traffic coming from the interior or from the airport to go east, straight to the centre, west of the city, or even to the recently built area of São Francisco.
In 2005 the International Airport of Praia inaugurated a runway which previously could only land small aircraft, guaranteeing nothing but domestic flights and a few connections to the nearest African cities.
Since then, business agents and politicians, the world of culture and tourism, have direct access to the capital. And the need for an expansion is running near.
The island of Santiago, the largest in the archipelago of Cape Verde, has almost 1,000km2 with almost 300,000 inhabitants. It is a palette of natural charms, historic treasures and of the cultural riches which we can find all over the country.
Here we can go to pleasant beaches, discover either lush or lunar landscapes and travel in history to the time of pirates and slavery. We can also feel the cosmopolitan or rural human warmth. We can climb up the sharp peaks or become lost in the green valleys, feel the essential tropical Africa in local markets, in unforgettable flavours, in local crafts, and in unique music which travels from here all over the world.
Here we can find the cradle, which was baptized Ribeira Grande, and is now known as Cidade Velha, or old city. There is now a silence and a peace which contrasts with the beginnings of the European incursion into the tropics of Africa via the first capital of the archipelago, the first city founded in Africa by the Portuguese.
In the Cidade Velha there is a mixture of memories left by the discoverers and settlers. There are some historic remains, most of them ruins, and houses with stone walls and sometimes thatched roofs. The lush vegetation of the valley, especially the coconut trees and the imposing baobabs, flows into town.
São Filipe Fort was built with stone from Portugal and Maio Island. In its time it defended the city from foreign incursions. During the years 1500 to 1600 there were constant attacks by famous corsairs such as Francis Drake and Cassard. Ribeira Grande was then a customs house for ships that transported slaves from the African coast to the rest of the world. From those times, there is the Senhora do Rosário Church, with its tombs and reasonably maintained tiles. The Cathedral, whose ruins were stabilised in a project by the famous architect Siza Vieira, are still waiting for a plan for restoration. The Pillory, of Manueline style, was erected in 1520. It bears witness to the violence to which the slaves were publicly subjected, and is one of the few pieces intact in the architecture of the city of Ribeira Grande.
The permanent instability caused the capital of the archipelago to be transferred in 1769 to the more tranquil Cidade da Praia. And time became lord and master of Cidade Velha.
Praia is urban Africa on Atlantic waters. The city seems to pulsate at Alexandre de Albuquerque Square, where those shopping in the Platô meet others coming out of the offices and religious buildings around it.
In the last few decades, the capital spread from the Platô and several new neighbourhoods were built. Some of them, such as Achada de Santo António, Palmarejo, Cidadela, Achadinha, Achada Grande and Achada de S. Filipe, are today important population areas with infrastructures which attract a large part of the life of the city. There are not only shops, but also official buildings, evening entertainment, gastronomy, and culture and sports.
The market of Platô should be visited. Agricultural products from the centre of the island are brought in by a bustle of women carrying their baskets, chatting loudly, carrying papaya, bananas, mangoes, cassava, tomatoes, tamarind, coconut, vegetables and other victuals, which the urban area needs for its daily cooking.
Sucupira, on the other hand, is a market-restaurant supplying the most varied consumer needs, from clothes and footwear to fruit and vegetables, which in the last 20 years established itself firmly in the valley separating Platô and Achadinha.
As a result of the astonishing expansion of the capital, Lisboa Avenue, southwards to the Governor’s Palace and heading north to Vila Nova Neighbourhood, became the new axis of the city and a mandatory passageway in and out of it.
Based in Praia there is the famous dance troop Raiz di Polón, whose performances are an attraction of very high artistic level.
The visitor may choose to swim at beaches such as Quebra Canela, Prainha and Mulher Branca. In Gamboa, a beach less used for bathing, there is a small quay which used to serve passenger ships during the last century. During the weekends it attracts sports lovers but has above all become known for the festival of the same name that takes place in May and draws to Praia well-known international performers.
Night time in Praia is a time of many choices, from the enticing tastes of the varied cuisine to the exhilaration or sadness of a music which is deeply rooted in the soul of the people. The nights at the Quintal da Música on Amílcar Cabral Avenue are a good example, especially when a group of batucadeiras swing their hips in the frantic characteristic singing of Santiago, an inheritance of the ancient but strong continental roots of Cape Verde’s population.
Leaving Praia for the north, and before one gets lost in successive mountainous valleys where the shape of the crests are a challenge to the imagination, a stop at São Domingos shows one of the richest green valleys of the island. Cape Verde souvenirs can be searched for at the Centro de Apoio à Produção Popular.
São Jorge de Órgãos, next, is a contrast with the roughness of the mountain cliffs. Here, in the quietness of dense vegetation, one can visit the only Botanical Gardenin the country. It is at the foot of the highest peak of Santiago, the Pico da Antónia. And if the visit is in the fourth quarter of the year, after brief rains, the traveller is assured lush vegetation.
Up above, in Rui Vaz, there is one of the most popular restaurants in the island, served by Quinta da Montanha, an agro-tourism guesthouse which uses the most recent irrigation methods and fine product selection.
On the other side of São Jorge, to the north, at Ribeira de Poilão, one can find the first important dam in the country, built to retain rain water. Recently constructed fields can already be seen on the fertile banks, visited by flocks of grey herons and wild pigeons.
The passarinha is a small bird with vivid colours endemic to this island, Fogo and Brava, which has multiplied and flies between clumps of bushes around the lake. Also noteworthy is the contrast played out by this island before and after the rains, which occur infrequently but heavily between July and October. These cause flooding in the river beds and cover green the whole surface of this land. Which, however, returns to its usual aridness in the first months of the year.
A little more than 60 kilometres from Praia, city and countryside blend in the very special atmosphere of Assomada. The market of the city is one of the most important centres of commercial exchange in the country, principally of agricultural goods. Here, to sell as much as to buy, converge inhabitants of the whole plateau. Visiting the Tabanka Museum is also a good idea.
Further on, leaving behind the island’s fertile and colourful central plateau, make a short visit to the south-east coast to see one of the many little ports of the island, the fishing village of Ribeira da Barca.
Right up in the north, after the Serra da Malagueta, one arrives at a place of contrasting emotions: Tarrafal. The bay is like a paradise, with light coloured sands, tepid crystalline water and the welcoming shade of imposing coconut trees – everything that beach lovers ever dreamt of. It is also a very important place for fishing.
In contrast with this natural beauty is the old prison complex built in the second quarter of the last century by the dictatorship which then ruled Portugal. Here, many political prisoners were held and common prisoners too, both from Portugal and from the Portuguese colonies of the time. A small museum tells the story of some of those prisoners, who should not be forgotten.
After one more magical encounter with the traditional gastronomy, in which cachupa, a hearty dish consisting of corn, beans, vegetables and different meats or fish is not to be missed, we begin our return trip by the north-east coast.
The landscape has changed. We can see small bays and groves, minute deserted beaches with black sands where occasionally some fishing boats lay rest. From small brooks every other turn of the road, we discover agricultural land stretching out to the sea. Ribeira de Principal, after Mangue das Sete Ribeiras and before arriving at Chã de Monte, is a rich land with an intense agricultural life.
Here, a traveller may come across some villages of rebellious farmers who have isolated themselves since the fourties in the past century in a kind of protest against what they consider a distortion of the principles they believe in. They are called Rabelados. They continue to consider themselves Christians, but have gone away from the concepts of official religion. They have been thought of as subversive, and have been an object of mistrust, both by the Catholic Church and by the authorities. They once believed in the changes brought by Independence, but their hopes were followed by disillusionment. They have closed themselves up again, and although there are new signs of reaching out, theRabelados keep themselves close to their principles. There are fewer now, as the young are more educated.
Leaving one of the most important townships of the island, São Miguel da Calheta, one arrives at Santa Cruz, a place where a traveller must stop to see the plantations of bananas, coconut palms and papaya trees, in a lush area leading on to an impressive sea mouth. A trip down the road cut through the plantation is dreamlike.
Santiago de Pedra Badejo is also an interesting village, with its little fishing port followed by an extensive plantation of coconut palms, cassava, banana trees, sugar cane and other crops, ending on a large stretch of black sand bordering the sea, always present on the winding northern coast of the island.
About 15 kilometres from Cidade da Praia, Praia Baixo extends an invitation one can’t refuse to find the warm transparent waters again. A short while ago this was almost a desert. Now the south-west coast, close to the capital, is growingly populated with resorts. Some, such as Sambala, close to São Francisco, are already under construction, or the Santiago Golf Resort, on the way out of Praia to the Cidade Velha. Others are at project stage, such as Ponta Bicuda, to the north of the capital, and others even are located in the municipalities of Santa Cruz and Santa Catarina.
A ring road linking the airport to Trindade and São Martinho Grande is now an important link in the urban development of the capital of Cape Verde, and allows traffic coming from the interior or from the airport to go east, straight to the centre, west of the city, or even to the recently built area of São Francisco.
In 2005 the International Airport of Praia inaugurated a runway which previously could only land small aircraft, guaranteeing nothing but domestic flights and a few connections to the nearest African cities.
Since then, business agents and politicians, the world of culture and tourism, have direct access to the capital. And the need for an expansion is running near.
