The Cape Verde island chain.The countdown begins!  Cape Verde is country #97 on my Countries Visited List.

Cape Verde is a group of 10 islands located 600-850 km off the most western point of Africa. It was uninhabited until the Portuguese landed there in the 15th century and claimed it. Because of its location it played prominently in the slave trade and later the commercial trade routes to the West. The total current population is 561,000 and 85% of the people are Christian. It achieved independence in 1975 and is considered a stable democracy. The official language is still Portuguese but Creole is commonly spoken amongst the inhabitants.

Mindelo is the port city on the island of Sao Vicente, with a population of about 70,000. It is noted for its culture, music and nightlife.  It was first settled in 1793 by the Portuguese. It is known for its elaborate carnival celebrations and our local guide claimed theirs was second to the one in Brazil in size and grandeur. I find that hard to believe as there are many other big carnival celebrations in the world. Surprisingly Mindelo, even with its small size, is considered the cultural capital of Cape Verde.

We had signed up for a 4 hour cultural tour of the city. It was basically a walking tour of the harbor area and nearby markets (fish, vegetable ), several surprisingly interesting art galleries and finally some free time in the local crafts market. The tour ended in a local bar/restaurant where we were entertained by local musicians and dancers who performed a series of local dances while we were served some snacks and drinks. I was surprised at the music, thinking it would be very African in nature. Not so, as it reminded us both of Latin America with a heavy emphasis on merengue-type melodies. I liked it! After the long tour we had taken in the Canary Islands the four hour tour proved to be just right! We were back on the ship in time for a shower and cocktails before dinner.

We had dinner with Jose and Maria, a couple from Madrid, Spain that I had met on an earlier tour.  Later on in the evening we attended the show which was a joint show, featuring pianist, Chris Hamilton, and singer, Shimi Goodman. Several years ago they collaborated and created the show we saw this evening.

Tomorrow we were supposed to be in Senegal which got cancelled and will, instead, be visiting another city in the Cape Verde chain, Praia, the capital city of Cape Verde, located on the island of Santiago.