Furna is a tiny settlement at the northeastern coast of Brava, facing Fogo, its bigger brother, but even though less than 1.000 people call Furna their home, it is an important place for Brava in general, because it is the only decent port on the island. Founded at some point in the first half of […]
Kategorie: Menschen
Chã das Caldeiras
The island of Fogo (fire) is a single giant volcano rising from the Atlantic Ocean. Once, it had been more than 4.000 m high, but 73.000 years ago its eastern flank collapsed into the sea, leaving a huge caldera at an altitude of around 1.700 m. Since then, regular outbreaks (at least one or two […]
São Filipe
São Filipe is the capital of the volcanic island of Fogo and behind Cidade Velha on Santiago the second oldest settlement in Cape Verde, founded in the 16th century. It is located on the west coast of the island with a small airport on the edge of town as well as the port Vale de […]
Salinas do Porto Inglês
Between Cidade do Maio and Morro, the 5 km long and 1.5 km wide saltpan is the most important feature of the island, because historically it had brought some wealth to Maio, at least for some time. A line of dunes separates the pan from the sea, and it is only at high tides that […]
Cidade do Maio (Cidade do Porto Ingles)
The capital of Maio is located at the southwestern tip of the island and has the only decent port. Some 3.000 or 4.000 people are living there, and all the island´s students attend high school in town. Maio had been discovered in 1460 but was of no further interest because of being barren and hostile. […]
Calheta
Calheta is located at the west coast of Maio and with more than 1.000 inhabitants the second-largest settlement on the island. It consists of two different villages, Ribona a bit inland and Baxona right at the sea. Most of the people live in Ribona where there are at least half a dozen informal bars, a […]
Maio
Maio is the easternmost of the Sotavento islands (“under the wind”) of Cape Verde and besides Sal the oldest island of the archipelago. Its 269 km² are quite flat except for some old volcanic mountains in the interior of which Monte Penoso (436 m) is the highest. The island is dry, barren, hostile, and the […]
Pedra de Lume
Pedra de Lume is a small settlement on Sal´s northeast coast that has grown around a tiny port. After long years of only being a stopover for turtle hunters, the interest in the island began to rose when Manuel António Martins started the exploitation of the salt ponds in the nearby crater in 1796. Water […]
Espargos
Espargos is a small, lovely desert town in the centre of Sal, right at the International Airport. It is the official capital of the island but of no further interest for tourists – if it wasn´t for the impressive volcanic desert landscape surrounding it. To fully enjoy this stunning scenery, one must walk up 107 […]
Santa Maria
Santa Maria is truly a non-place, a place that was not meant to be, an absurd place living only through and because of the people who are going to leave that place within a matter of ten or fourteen days, which gives it an atmosphere of elusive briefness. It once had been a small fishing […]