Cidade Velha: Where Cape Verde Began
Darkness has long fallen as we reach our next home, Michaela is in desperate need of rest after the ordeal of the ferry crossing from hell and curls up in the foetal position on the bed, a sure sign she needs recovery sleep. Of course, we haven’t eaten since breakfast: Michaela won’t be in the mood to face anything – I’m empty but don’t feel I should leave her alone so it’s just a handful of Pringles for my dinner tonight.
While she sleeps I go to catch up on some admin and to research our new place – but the wifi is as dead as a dodo and stubbornly refuses to respond. This combination of no wifi and no food would normally have me spitting feathers, but somehow I can’t feel any angst. In this land of “No Stress” we’ve had more than enough stress for one day. Maybe I’ll rest too.
Our new home is down on the farm, or at least a farm converted into a small guesthouse. We’re just outside the small town of Cidade Velha (literally, “Old City”), which is the very spot where life on Cape Verde began. This was the place where the very first Portuguese settlers landed, soon creating a military base around which within four years a town had grown. Originally naming it Ribeiro Grande, the Portuguese rapidly built a lucrative trading post between Africa and the Americas, once again involving the trading of African slaves as one of its commodities.
And so it was from this point that occupation of the ten islands of Cape Verde began, and from here again that Portuguese royalty amassed huge riches from the brutal reality of the slave trade. News of the riches of Cape Verde spread, attracting explorers, corsairs and pirates to this little corner of the world. As we walk what are today its modest streets, we are walking in the footsteps of history, following the path of the likes of Vasco da Gama, Francis Drake and Jacques Cassart.
Six hundred years later the population has gravitated to the other islands and to other towns on this island, leaving behind what is, considering its influential place in history, a small understated village with only hints of evidence of its former status. It must surely be one of the most modestly celebrated UNESCO World Heritage sites on the planet. What remains now is a rustic little village where the rolling Atlantic turns jet black pebbles into polished spheres, but where its vital history has almost been lost beneath its backwater character.
Leading away from the village centre is Rua Banana (Banana Street), said in some circles to be the oldest surviving street in all of sub-Saharan Africa. It’s an exceedingly quaint lane, narrow, cobbled and lined with attractive little houses constructed from limestone and featuring thatched straw roofs. These tiny dwellings date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Rua Banana leads ultimately to the oldest colonial church in the world, the Nossa Senhora da Rosario, built in 1495.
High on the cliff above Cedida Velha stands the Fort Sao Felipe, originally built to repel pirate attacks but more recently largely resurrected through a reconstruction project funded by Spain. Elsewhere, a small number of restaurants sit right at the water’s edge, providing a great place to quaff a Strela beer and watch the white surf pound the black rocks, but otherwise this lovely little village is as unassuming as it gets.
Taking a hike up through the ribeiro (valley) which gave the town its original name, we climb through the oasis-like gorge with mango and papaya trees and coconut and banana palms, away from the village and towards the water source somewhere above, though at this time of year the river bed runs dry. The air is full of dragonflies and giant locust-like insects which skip from plant to plant like hummingbirds. Every footfall seems to disturb half a dozen grasshoppers of various colours and sizes. Kingfishers squawk, doves coo and skinks dart under rocks as our heavy footsteps approach.
Eventually the hike takes us up the eastern escarpment to the very top of the ribeiro, through the village of Calabaceira, silent apart from the snorting sounds from its sizeable pig farm, and back towards the sea through soft, fine red earth which stains shoes and socks with a rusty hue. From here we pass the fort once again and approach Cidade Velha from on high, the ruins of its cathedral and its modest streets laid out below.
As ever somebody is hammering out a repair to a small fishing boat; the repetitive sound echoing up the cliff from the waterfront. Gaggles of uniformed children head towards the waiting bus, girls chatting and boys jostling. The sun disappears behind hazy cloud yet seems to lose none of the strength of its rays which continue to tan our faces. The Atlantic surf rolls and crashes, as it always does and always will, as another laid back Cape Verde afternoon unfolds. Seems like a good time to indulge in some more of those giant succulent prawns which are always available here; oh, I don’t mind if I do….in fact how about a couple of those foaming Strela beers, too. Thank you!
All visitors to Cape Verde are warned about the regular power outages, but it’s only on our last morning in Cidade Velha that we experience our first one, so with nothing else to do we take one last stroll around the village and are surprised to see a large group of tourists wandering around, cameras in hand. It seems a cruise ship has berthed in Praia and these guys are on their prescribed visit to this historic little town. Until now we hadn’t even realised it was on such lists, so understated and unassuming is its character.
It’s time to leave this island and return to where we started, the delightful fishing village of Sal Rei on the island of Boa Vista where we will spend the last few days before returning to the UK. Thankfully this island hop is with Bestfly and not by boat, there’s no way we’re ready to go through anything like that again.
Settling back into Sal Rei is like a mini homecoming – we’re not only welcomed back by our host Sylvia but recognised by shopkeepers and the girl at the bar on the quayside who beam their biggest smiles when they catch sight of us. When we were here a couple of weeks ago, twilight became our favourite time of day, and now on our return to our little fisherman’s cottage we remember just why – the orange ball of the sun drops below the horizon, fishing boats become dark silhouettes against the silver water and even the dainty glow of the streetlights has an element of romance. It’s impossible to not feel chilled here.
Sal Rei has the potential to enter our top ten list of favourite places.
27 Comments
Toonsarah
Ah, we visited Cidade Velha for the day but I hadn’t even realised there was any accommodation available here! I loved its sleepy atmosphere as much as you did 🙂 You may remember that this is where our guide carried out a rescue operation for some chicks caught in a fishing net (https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/travellers-tales-its-all-about-the-birds/)?
Phil & Michaela
Well, I’m not surprised at that tale given the amount of chicks running around the place! Good place for a few days stay…
Helen Devries
Of all the places you visited, this is the one I would enjoy visiting the most.
Phil & Michaela
There was something really alluring about its understatement and modesty. Good little place for a few days.
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
Your descriptive prose and photos are beautiful. 🙂 I hope Michaela recovered well from the bout of motion sickness – so awful.
Phil & Michaela
She’s fine now though is describing it as her worst ever travel experience! Thank you again for your complimentary comments, so nice to receive
restlessjo
Alluring, now the nightmare journey is over. I feel lulled into a warm and comfortable space that I will certainly bear in mind for the future. Lovely, thank you!
Phil & Michaela
We know there’s plenty of places to avoid on these islands (all-inclusives, big hotels) and we have indeed avoided them. If you do, there really are some great little unspoilt places.
Phil & Michaela
Yes Jo – we know there’s places to avoid on these islands (the all-inclusives and the big hotels), and we have indeed avoided them. If you can, and do, there’s plenty of lovely unspoilt places to discover.
Travels Through My Lens
Seems like the perfect place to rest and recover after your harrowing journey. I hope Michaela made a full recovery and was able to enjoy the area.
Phil & Michaela
Oh yeah it didn’t take her too long to be back on the local wine! 😂🍷
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
Charming and rustic!
wetanddustyroads
Cidade Velha is such a quaint town. And the history, I mean, with names such as Da Gama, Drake and Cassart – wow! I wouldn’t mind walking around Banana Street right now. And that sunset in Sal – incredibly beautiful!
Phil & Michaela
Both great little places!
grandmisadventures
I love that you get to see this town where it all began and that it probably still looks like it did then to a great extent. I love the rustic, rural, and unpretentious beauty of it 🙂
Phil & Michaela
It was all of those, for sure. Probably not enough for longer than 2 or 3 days maximum but a lovely little rustic place
Alison
What a lovely name Rue Banana and does look so quaint. Have loved travelling these islands with you. I will put them on my list of places, although I don’t think we could cover them all like you did.
Phil & Michaela
Well we’ve only visited 3 of the 10 main islands but I have to say we’re tempted to see some of the ones further north after this experience. And yeah, Rua Banana is a great name!
Alison
Something for next year then
Phil & Michaela
Who knows…..
Lookoom
You need to know a bit of history to identify Cidade Velha as an important town – it doesn’t look like one.
leightontravels
What an incredibly charming and picturesque place. The history behind it also makes it a must see I’d say. I could dive into these photos and I disagree with the general sentiment that it’s a place to spend just a few days. We would happily kick back there for a few months, but only if that WIFI could be depended on. Which I guess would rarely be the case. Sal Re… gorgeous.
Phil & Michaela
It is indeed all of those things, though it is a very small place so it would be a matter of weighing up the peaceful atmosphere with the not-many-things-to-do factor. Ironically our digs in Cidade Velha was the weakest wifi of the whole trip.
rkrontheroad
I’d love to spend some time at that seaside restaurant. Sad history of the slave trade, but somehow the vibe of this place seems much more serene and historic.
Phil & Michaela
It was an unusual little place, so understated given the importance of its history. A very modest little place.
Annie Berger
Had known of Cape Verde but not a thing about it until your posts. Thanks for bringing it to life for me!
Phil & Michaela
☺️