If Fajã de Água wouldn´t already exist, I´m pretty sure some writer or film director would make it up. It resembles too much a dream or a fantasy, and it is too close to at least a million clichés we´ve been fed with through movies, advertisement and pulp literature, because it´s the place at the […]
Schlagwort: Atlantik
Brava, the wild one – Brava, die Wilde
With only 64 km2,Brava is the smallest of the nine inhabited islands of the archipelago, an underwater stratovolcano that had been lifted to the surface over the course of thousands and thousands of years. There is no volcanic activity anymore, but clusters of minor earthquakes occur from time to time, a proof that there is […]
Nova Sintra
The capital of Brava Island is Nova Sintra, sitting about 500 metres above Furna down at the seashore. A winding road leads up to Nova Sintra which takes no more than ten or twelve minutes, but you come to a totally different world. Where Furna is hot, humid and rocky, Nova Sintra is green, humid, […]
Furna
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 […]
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. […]
Monte Batalha
Monte Batalha (294 m) is situated in the hinterland of Calheta close to the west coast of Maio, and it is the second highest mountain on the island. In the wet season, its foothills are used for agriculture, and the higher ranges are good for grazing livestock. On sea-level, there is the forest of Calheta […]
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 […]