Cape Verde
CAPE VERDE
Why I
Cape Verde Travel writer, JENNY CHILDS, tells us why a trip to a littleknown group of castaway islands was a truly cape escape...
hen I packed my bags for Cape Verde, I was after sun, sea and samba, minus the long haul flight. I wasn’t disappointed. In just over five hours, I was marooned in the middle of the Atlantic on one of the archipelago’s ten islands, 500 kilometres off the coast of Senegal. And from where I was (very quickly) lazing, I could have been in Barbados – white sands stretch into oblivion and the sea is filled with exotic visitors like parrotfish. I soon learned Cape Verde does, in fact, share the same latitude as the Caribbean, so I’d taken a tropical short-cut and couldn’t have been more smug. Lunar-like Sal is Cape Verde’s most cosmopolitan island and dotted with bright little towns like Santa Maria, where I stayed. The cobbled streets are lined with surf shops, rainbow-painted restaurants and diddy squares, but I’d really come for the promise
of those paradise beaches. My homework paid off. There was an eight-kilometre stretch of pale, powdery sands ready and waiting. And when I wanted to leave the beach bars and watersports centres behind – the island is one of the world’s top five windsurfing spots – I retreated to the solitude of the rolling dunes. It only takes 15 minutes to fly to neighbouring Boa Vista, so I finally gave my sunbed the heave-ho and did a spot of island-hopping. Looks-wise, it’s like Sal – the 55-kilometre coastline is a halo of almost empty white sand. Inland though, I found volcanic peaks, coconut plantations and more shape-shifting dunes. The highlight for me on both islands was the weather. Steady sunshine is Cape Verde’s big earner. The temperature rarely dips below 25°C and the rainy season is, apparently, an afternoon in August. Add that to after-dark Brazilian beats and islanders so friendly I felt like I’d come home, and I’d adopted the locals’ mantra ‘Cape Verde – no stress’ the minute I touched down.”
Stay at the RIU Touareg, Boa Vista, Cape Verde There’s already a buzz about this brand new 24-hour All Inclusive hotel. Look forward to a private beach, five pools and quiet areas where only the grown-ups are allowed.
THOMSON AIRWAYS 103_CapeVerde_SPS.indd 2
TRAVEL 103 5/10/11 16:27:28
Why I
Cape Verde Travel writer, JENNY CHILDS, tells us why a trip to a littleknown group of castaway islands was a truly cape escape...
hen I packed my bags for Cape Verde, I was after sun, sea and samba, minus the long haul flight. I wasn’t disappointed. In just over five hours, I was marooned in the middle of the Atlantic on one of the archipelago’s ten islands, 500 kilometres off the coast of Senegal. And from where I was (very quickly) lazing, I could have been in Barbados – white sands stretch into oblivion and the sea is filled with exotic visitors like parrotfish. I soon learned Cape Verde does, in fact, share the same latitude as the Caribbean, so I’d taken a tropical short-cut and couldn’t have been more smug. Lunar-like Sal is Cape Verde’s most cosmopolitan island and dotted with bright little towns like Santa Maria, where I stayed. The cobbled streets are lined with surf shops, rainbow-painted restaurants and diddy squares, but I’d really come for the promise
of those paradise beaches. My homework paid off. There was an eight-kilometre stretch of pale, powdery sands ready and waiting. And when I wanted to leave the beach bars and watersports centres behind – the island is one of the world’s top five windsurfing spots – I retreated to the solitude of the rolling dunes. It only takes 15 minutes to fly to neighbouring Boa Vista, so I finally gave my sunbed the heave-ho and did a spot of island-hopping. Looks-wise, it’s like Sal – the 55-kilometre coastline is a halo of almost empty white sand. Inland though, I found volcanic peaks, coconut plantations and more shape-shifting dunes. The highlight for me on both islands was the weather. Steady sunshine is Cape Verde’s big earner. The temperature rarely dips below 25°C and the rainy season is, apparently, an afternoon in August. Add that to after-dark Brazilian beats and islanders so friendly I felt like I’d come home, and I’d adopted the locals’ mantra ‘Cape Verde – no stress’ the minute I touched down.”
Stay at the RIU Touareg, Boa Vista, Cape Verde There’s already a buzz about this brand new 24-hour All Inclusive hotel. Look forward to a private beach, five pools and quiet areas where only the grown-ups are allowed.
THOMSON AIRWAYS 103_CapeVerde_SPS.indd 2
TRAVEL 103 5/10/11 16:27:28
