Discussion
Old Merc said:
Last time I was there, ( pre Covid ) it was mainly cash in the bars and restaurants, but I’m sure you will find that cards are accepted more now. You can only buy and sell CV Escudos on the island. Don’t bother, best to take a load of Euros, they accept them everywhere. You pay a bill and get the change in Escudos though. Get rid of them as tips.
Thanks - great advice re change/tips 
nvubu said:
Old Merc said:
Last time I was there, ( pre Covid ) it was mainly cash in the bars and restaurants, but I’m sure you will find that cards are accepted more now. You can only buy and sell CV Escudos on the island. Don’t bother, best to take a load of Euros, they accept them everywhere. You pay a bill and get the change in Escudos though. Get rid of them as tips.
Thanks - great advice re change/tips Thought I'd add to this existing thread with my Cape Verde experiance.
Went all inclusive with Tui, on 3rd November this year for 7 nights.
Flew from Manchester.
Hotel was the RIU Palce on the island of Boa Vists.
Cost was £2487 Inc choosing seats on the plane.
Tui fly from T2 at Manchester, so departure lounge is modern and has great facilities..
Also flight times were really good. Flight out was at 8am arriving at 1pm due to Cape Verde being 1hr behind.
So upon arrival felt like plenty of time left in the day.
Flight back was at 3pm, so landed at 10pm.
The flight back was also good as room check out was lunchtime meaning we could enjoy the pool and have lunch in time for a 1pm pick up from the hotel.
Flights had no set meals but you could buy the toasties and a limited selection of microwaved meals.
Arrived at a very small airport with roofing only over parts of the facilities. Temperature was around 30deg, so in the open spaces people got sweaty quickly.
Due to being a small airport, we were in and out quickly.
TUI rep was on site to guide to the coach transfer.
You could see the hotel from the airport.
Transfer was about 15 minutes.
Upon arrival hotel was exactly as the pictures. Modern and very clean.
Selection of complementary drinks on arrival. Quick check in.
We had a 1st floor room on the edge of the site. I think the swim up rooms were an additional £1000 for the week.
Room again as the pics. Immaculate upon entering.
Bizarrely had optics in the room as well.
The hotel was immaculate throughout and staff were permanently cleaning all areas. Never seen the lifebouys round pools cleaned so often.
The hotel had 3 pools, plus a small kiddy pool. Due to time of year their were very few kids.
2 of the pools had swim up bars.
All pools were directly adjacent to the beach, and loungers were available from the hotel on the beach as well.
Food was good,and had a decent selection. However after a week i had become a bit bored of the options.
There were 3 restraunts you had to book in advance. They were free but quickly booked up.
The RIU app gave access to info and restraunt booking.
The hotel was adjacent to another TUI hotel, and they shared a big water park facility. Likely great for kids but we didn't use it.
They were keen to stop guests going into the neighbouring hotel.
However on a Friday they have a big entertainment night hosted in the adjacent hotel. This was the highlight of the entertainment each week.
For me the entertainment was the worst part of the holiday.
Early evening the bar area had either a piano or saxophone being played, this was great. But as the bar interconnected with the large entertainment room this stopped at about 8pm.
Then it was low quality entertainment. Staff dressed up dancing to backing tracks.
At about 10pm onwards we occasionally got lucky and they had a live artist singing which was OK.
Outside the hotel it's baren.
The beach was spectacular, and if you walked south for about 20 minutes you rounded the sand dune, where there was an independent bar. This was a welcome relief. It also had a very nice view out. Prices were relatively cheap for cocktails.
Overall we really enjoyed it, but it lacked anything outside the resort to stimulate you. Beach walk were nice but through the day it was very hot, and the sun sets quickly at 6pm so you have to time your walk to not get to much sun and avoid walking back in the dark.
The nearest and only town was either about 70mins away walking on the beach or a short taxi. I wouldn't bother as it has very little to offer.
If you want a hot holiday in an immaculate hotel and are happy to stay within the resort its perfect.
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Went all inclusive with Tui, on 3rd November this year for 7 nights.
Flew from Manchester.
Hotel was the RIU Palce on the island of Boa Vists.
Cost was £2487 Inc choosing seats on the plane.
Tui fly from T2 at Manchester, so departure lounge is modern and has great facilities..
Also flight times were really good. Flight out was at 8am arriving at 1pm due to Cape Verde being 1hr behind.
So upon arrival felt like plenty of time left in the day.
Flight back was at 3pm, so landed at 10pm.
The flight back was also good as room check out was lunchtime meaning we could enjoy the pool and have lunch in time for a 1pm pick up from the hotel.
Flights had no set meals but you could buy the toasties and a limited selection of microwaved meals.
Arrived at a very small airport with roofing only over parts of the facilities. Temperature was around 30deg, so in the open spaces people got sweaty quickly.
Due to being a small airport, we were in and out quickly.
TUI rep was on site to guide to the coach transfer.
You could see the hotel from the airport.
Transfer was about 15 minutes.
Upon arrival hotel was exactly as the pictures. Modern and very clean.
Selection of complementary drinks on arrival. Quick check in.
We had a 1st floor room on the edge of the site. I think the swim up rooms were an additional £1000 for the week.
Room again as the pics. Immaculate upon entering.
Bizarrely had optics in the room as well.
The hotel was immaculate throughout and staff were permanently cleaning all areas. Never seen the lifebouys round pools cleaned so often.
The hotel had 3 pools, plus a small kiddy pool. Due to time of year their were very few kids.
2 of the pools had swim up bars.
All pools were directly adjacent to the beach, and loungers were available from the hotel on the beach as well.
Food was good,and had a decent selection. However after a week i had become a bit bored of the options.
There were 3 restraunts you had to book in advance. They were free but quickly booked up.
The RIU app gave access to info and restraunt booking.
The hotel was adjacent to another TUI hotel, and they shared a big water park facility. Likely great for kids but we didn't use it.
They were keen to stop guests going into the neighbouring hotel.
However on a Friday they have a big entertainment night hosted in the adjacent hotel. This was the highlight of the entertainment each week.
For me the entertainment was the worst part of the holiday.
Early evening the bar area had either a piano or saxophone being played, this was great. But as the bar interconnected with the large entertainment room this stopped at about 8pm.
Then it was low quality entertainment. Staff dressed up dancing to backing tracks.
At about 10pm onwards we occasionally got lucky and they had a live artist singing which was OK.
Outside the hotel it's baren.
The beach was spectacular, and if you walked south for about 20 minutes you rounded the sand dune, where there was an independent bar. This was a welcome relief. It also had a very nice view out. Prices were relatively cheap for cocktails.
Overall we really enjoyed it, but it lacked anything outside the resort to stimulate you. Beach walk were nice but through the day it was very hot, and the sun sets quickly at 6pm so you have to time your walk to not get to much sun and avoid walking back in the dark.
The nearest and only town was either about 70mins away walking on the beach or a short taxi. I wouldn't bother as it has very little to offer.
If you want a hot holiday in an immaculate hotel and are happy to stay within the resort its perfect.
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Thought I'd add to this existing thread with my Cape Verde experiance.
Went all inclusive with Tui, on 3rd November this year for 7 nights.
Flew from Manchester.
Hotel was the RIU Palce on the island of Boa Vists.
Cost was £2487 Inc choosing seats on the plane.
Tui fly from T2 at Manchester, so departure lounge is modern and has great facilities..
Also flight times were really good. Flight out was at 8am arriving at 1pm due to Cape Verde being 1hr behind.
So upon arrival felt like plenty of time left in the day.
Flight back was at 3pm, so landed at 10pm.
The flight back was also good as room check out was lunchtime meaning we could enjoy the pool and have lunch in time for a 1pm pick up from the hotel.
Flights had no set meals but you could buy the toasties and a limited selection of microwaved meals.
Arrived at a very small airport with roofing only over parts of the facilities. Temperature was around 30deg, so in the open spaces people got sweaty quickly.
Due to being a small airport, we were in and out quickly.
TUI rep was on site to guide to the coach transfer.
You could see the hotel from the airport.
Transfer was about 15 minutes.
Upon arrival hotel was exactly as the pictures. Modern and very clean.
Selection of complementary drinks on arrival. Quick check in.
We had a 1st floor room on the edge of the site. I think the swim up rooms were an additional £1000 for the week.
Room again as the pics. Immaculate upon entering.
Bizarrely had optics in the room as well.
The hotel was immaculate throughout and staff were permanently cleaning all areas. Never seen the lifebouys round pools cleaned so often.
The hotel had 3 pools, plus a small kiddy pool. Due to time of year their were very few kids.
2 of the pools had swim up bars.
All pools were directly adjacent to the beach, and loungers were available from the hotel on the beach as well.
Food was good,and had a decent selection. However after a week i had become a bit bored of the options.
There were 3 restraunts you had to book in advance. They were free but quickly booked up.
The RIU app gave access to info and restraunt booking.
The hotel was adjacent to another TUI hotel, and they shared a big water park facility. Likely great for kids but we didn't use it.
They were keen to stop guests going into the neighbouring hotel.
However on a Friday they have a big entertainment night hosted in the adjacent hotel. This was the highlight of the entertainment each week.
For me the entertainment was the worst part of the holiday.
Early evening the bar area had either a piano or saxophone being played, this was great. But as the bar interconnected with the large entertainment room this stopped at about 8pm.
Then it was low quality entertainment. Staff dressed up dancing to backing tracks.
At about 10pm onwards we occasionally got lucky and they had a live artist singing which was OK.
Outside the hotel it's baren.
The beach was spectacular, and if you walked south for about 20 minutes you rounded the sand dune, where there was an independent bar. This was a welcome relief. It also had a very nice view out. Prices were relatively cheap for cocktails.
Overall we really enjoyed it, but it lacked anything outside the resort to stimulate you. Beach walk were nice but through the day it was very hot, and the sun sets quickly at 6pm so you have to time your walk to not get to much sun and avoid walking back in the dark.
The nearest and only town was either about 70mins away walking on the beach or a short taxi. I wouldn't bother as it has very little to offer.
If you want a hot holiday in an immaculate hotel and are happy to stay within the resort its perfect.
We looked at CV for the same week, but instead booked a TUI holiday (5* AI) in Jamaica for £500 less than you paid. Lovely time, and not restricted to staying on the resort. Literally, it was lush. When I looked at CV on google maps as you say it was barren, looked like the moon!! Went all inclusive with Tui, on 3rd November this year for 7 nights.
Flew from Manchester.
Hotel was the RIU Palce on the island of Boa Vists.
Cost was £2487 Inc choosing seats on the plane.
Tui fly from T2 at Manchester, so departure lounge is modern and has great facilities..
Also flight times were really good. Flight out was at 8am arriving at 1pm due to Cape Verde being 1hr behind.
So upon arrival felt like plenty of time left in the day.
Flight back was at 3pm, so landed at 10pm.
The flight back was also good as room check out was lunchtime meaning we could enjoy the pool and have lunch in time for a 1pm pick up from the hotel.
Flights had no set meals but you could buy the toasties and a limited selection of microwaved meals.
Arrived at a very small airport with roofing only over parts of the facilities. Temperature was around 30deg, so in the open spaces people got sweaty quickly.
Due to being a small airport, we were in and out quickly.
TUI rep was on site to guide to the coach transfer.
You could see the hotel from the airport.
Transfer was about 15 minutes.
Upon arrival hotel was exactly as the pictures. Modern and very clean.
Selection of complementary drinks on arrival. Quick check in.
We had a 1st floor room on the edge of the site. I think the swim up rooms were an additional £1000 for the week.
Room again as the pics. Immaculate upon entering.
Bizarrely had optics in the room as well.
The hotel was immaculate throughout and staff were permanently cleaning all areas. Never seen the lifebouys round pools cleaned so often.
The hotel had 3 pools, plus a small kiddy pool. Due to time of year their were very few kids.
2 of the pools had swim up bars.
All pools were directly adjacent to the beach, and loungers were available from the hotel on the beach as well.
Food was good,and had a decent selection. However after a week i had become a bit bored of the options.
There were 3 restraunts you had to book in advance. They were free but quickly booked up.
The RIU app gave access to info and restraunt booking.
The hotel was adjacent to another TUI hotel, and they shared a big water park facility. Likely great for kids but we didn't use it.
They were keen to stop guests going into the neighbouring hotel.
However on a Friday they have a big entertainment night hosted in the adjacent hotel. This was the highlight of the entertainment each week.
For me the entertainment was the worst part of the holiday.
Early evening the bar area had either a piano or saxophone being played, this was great. But as the bar interconnected with the large entertainment room this stopped at about 8pm.
Then it was low quality entertainment. Staff dressed up dancing to backing tracks.
At about 10pm onwards we occasionally got lucky and they had a live artist singing which was OK.
Outside the hotel it's baren.
The beach was spectacular, and if you walked south for about 20 minutes you rounded the sand dune, where there was an independent bar. This was a welcome relief. It also had a very nice view out. Prices were relatively cheap for cocktails.
Overall we really enjoyed it, but it lacked anything outside the resort to stimulate you. Beach walk were nice but through the day it was very hot, and the sun sets quickly at 6pm so you have to time your walk to not get to much sun and avoid walking back in the dark.
The nearest and only town was either about 70mins away walking on the beach or a short taxi. I wouldn't bother as it has very little to offer.
If you want a hot holiday in an immaculate hotel and are happy to stay within the resort its perfect.
TTmonkey said:
We looked at CV for the same week, but instead booked a TUI holiday (5* AI) in Jamaica for £500 less than you paid. Lovely time, and not restricted to staying on the resort. Literally, it was lush. When I looked at CV on google maps as you say it was barren, looked like the moon!!
Which resort did you stay in? And would you recommend it?We've got thailand booked for May, but are looking to book somewhere again in November
mikebradford said:
Which resort did you stay in? And would you recommend it?
We've got thailand booked for May, but are looking to book somewhere again in November
At the Riu in Montego Bay. At the price we paid (last minute) yes. At the price others on the same holiday paid (double) nope. We've got thailand booked for May, but are looking to book somewhere again in November
Jamaica is lovely, third time for us. There are much better resorts than Riu Mobay if you pay a bit more.
TTmonkey said:
At the Riu in Montego Bay. At the price we paid (last minute) yes. At the price others on the same holiday paid (double) nope.
Jamaica is lovely, third time for us. There are much better resorts than Riu Mobay if you pay a bit more.
Thanks for the replyJamaica is lovely, third time for us. There are much better resorts than Riu Mobay if you pay a bit more.
We might also try waiting until the last minute as we've not got any constraints, hopefully get a better value holiday like it sounds you got.
We are off to Santo Antão in Cape Verde tomorrow.
Almost buggered it up though as I had misunderstood the pre-authorisation, thought it was within 5 days of arrival, not a minimum of 5 days before arrival. So completing it yesterday I had a real "oh s
t - we aren't going" moment.
However, I went through filled in the 4 applications and paid the fees - the last page stated that if not heard the "result" in 48 hours, to use the contact form. I used it straight away and explained I'm messed up, filled the forms in and paid - not sure what to do now.
Thinking I wouldn't hear anything back for a day, if lucky, I went and got on a train to go to Newmarket to collect one of my cars from a service. When on the train, opened my emails, and already had a reply. We exchanged 4 emails between Welwyn Garden City & Cambridge, by which time the visas for the whole family had been issued - with an email to me with all the visa numbers in.
What superb customer service - puts most organisations in the UK to shame.
Almost buggered it up though as I had misunderstood the pre-authorisation, thought it was within 5 days of arrival, not a minimum of 5 days before arrival. So completing it yesterday I had a real "oh s
t - we aren't going" moment.However, I went through filled in the 4 applications and paid the fees - the last page stated that if not heard the "result" in 48 hours, to use the contact form. I used it straight away and explained I'm messed up, filled the forms in and paid - not sure what to do now.
Thinking I wouldn't hear anything back for a day, if lucky, I went and got on a train to go to Newmarket to collect one of my cars from a service. When on the train, opened my emails, and already had a reply. We exchanged 4 emails between Welwyn Garden City & Cambridge, by which time the visas for the whole family had been issued - with an email to me with all the visa numbers in.
What superb customer service - puts most organisations in the UK to shame.
Arrived yesterday all well and good. You can buy the visa on arrival, so my panic earlier this week was not necessary, however it did look like it was a requirement. All it gives you is access to the electronic gates, which seemed not to work for 50% of passengers. Daughter a bit pissed off as no stamp in her passport. Hopefully one on the way out.
In Mindelo drinking a grogue and coke zero, with a view towards the beach. 25 degrees, but a little windy. Walked round the town today, nice and safe. Did some shopping in the very small supermarkets here - think corner stores. Credit card accepted some places, Euros if not.
Negatives so far. Phone decided to brick itself while sitting in T2 at Heathrow. It seems to be buggered, soft and hard reset have no effect. Apparently a reasonably common issue with an Asus ZenFone 8. Still under warranty, but will have to wait until our return. Using my low res tablet for photos. Will try to add some later.
I would NOT fly with an overnight transit via Lisbon again, the airport was the worst I've ever been through. Was not allowed through the electronic gates as son is under 18, and the all passports queue just took ages. It is 12+ in Cape Verde.
The next morning, through security and in the departure lounge, call to gate an Then there is passport control, another huge queue. Why just why? Should be just after security rather than before going to the gate. As we arrived at the gate it was final call.
On arrival at VXE there was a TUI aircraft on the ramp. Was a bit surprised as TUI don't fly here from the UK. Discovered this morning that they fly from AMS on Mon and Wed, not sure yet where from on a Thu. I think I'd use them if I came here again to avoid Lisbon. TAP Air Portugal were fine.
In Mindelo drinking a grogue and coke zero, with a view towards the beach. 25 degrees, but a little windy. Walked round the town today, nice and safe. Did some shopping in the very small supermarkets here - think corner stores. Credit card accepted some places, Euros if not.
Negatives so far. Phone decided to brick itself while sitting in T2 at Heathrow. It seems to be buggered, soft and hard reset have no effect. Apparently a reasonably common issue with an Asus ZenFone 8. Still under warranty, but will have to wait until our return. Using my low res tablet for photos. Will try to add some later.
I would NOT fly with an overnight transit via Lisbon again, the airport was the worst I've ever been through. Was not allowed through the electronic gates as son is under 18, and the all passports queue just took ages. It is 12+ in Cape Verde.
The next morning, through security and in the departure lounge, call to gate an Then there is passport control, another huge queue. Why just why? Should be just after security rather than before going to the gate. As we arrived at the gate it was final call.
On arrival at VXE there was a TUI aircraft on the ramp. Was a bit surprised as TUI don't fly here from the UK. Discovered this morning that they fly from AMS on Mon and Wed, not sure yet where from on a Thu. I think I'd use them if I came here again to avoid Lisbon. TAP Air Portugal were fine.
Up early this morning to catch the 7am ferry to Porto Novo on Santo Antão. Make sure that you have printed your ticket as they were collecting paper copies, and I didn't see anyone using a digital version.
Crossing was choppy, my wife didn't like it, but the small cafe on board made a welcome cup of coffee.
On arrival found the car hire office just outside the port, and our Dacia Duster was ready for usdrive around the dramatic coast road to Riberia Grande. We stopped in Paul for breakfast.
As I only drink sugar free soda, we stopped at a couple supermarkets to see if we could get coke zero, but no luck. We had bought a couple of large bottles in Mindelo just in case.
Drove up to Ponta do Sol to look at the old airfield before returning to Riberia Grande and heading inland.
The scenary is just stunning, my son commented that it looked like one of the Jurassic Park movies. The road climbed up to the top of the pass, before heading back down to the ocean at Cruzinha, close to where we are staying for the next 5 nights at Questel Bronq.
This place is just stunning. Atlantic Ocean outside our door. Private beach 5 minutes walk. Turn inland, and the mountains just rise up.
Crossing was choppy, my wife didn't like it, but the small cafe on board made a welcome cup of coffee.
On arrival found the car hire office just outside the port, and our Dacia Duster was ready for usdrive around the dramatic coast road to Riberia Grande. We stopped in Paul for breakfast.
As I only drink sugar free soda, we stopped at a couple supermarkets to see if we could get coke zero, but no luck. We had bought a couple of large bottles in Mindelo just in case.
Drove up to Ponta do Sol to look at the old airfield before returning to Riberia Grande and heading inland.
The scenary is just stunning, my son commented that it looked like one of the Jurassic Park movies. The road climbed up to the top of the pass, before heading back down to the ocean at Cruzinha, close to where we are staying for the next 5 nights at Questel Bronq.
This place is just stunning. Atlantic Ocean outside our door. Private beach 5 minutes walk. Turn inland, and the mountains just rise up.
After breakfast we drove back to Paul where we were yesterday morning. Parked up and hired a taxi to take us to the top of the Cova De Paul - which is only a few miles away but took an hour to get to.
We the proceeded to walk down into the crater and back up the other side, before a steep walk down to Cabo de Riveira, and when I say steep, bloody hell, it was really mountain goat territory. There was a proper path, but it was knee killing terrain, and it killed my left knee. The scenery is really out of this world.
We finished the path and got onto the road, where we found a local restaurant Ady et Juju, which provided us some really needed food. After food, we started down the road back to Paul. And it seemed to be all downhill, so more knee killing. I said to my daughter that at the rate we were going it was going to take 4 hours to cover the 4.5 miles remaining.
An empty taxi came towards us, and I hailed it as my son said yes when asked, much to the displeasure of my wife & daughter. We got in and 15 minutes later and 6 EUR lighter, we were back in Paul - and were eating ice creams on the promenade. Wife and daughter then said maybe it was the right move to get a taxi.
Back to the hotel over the fantastic road we took yesterday - but at a much faster speed. I even got into 5th for a few seconds a couple of times.
We are not staying at all inclusive hotels - our main hotel (see previous post for photos) is serving good local food, and runs an honesty bar. We always prefer to eat local food, and in all our travels have rarely been disappointed.
The roads in Santo Antao are brilliant. All paved, but the majority are cobbled rather than tarmac, which in my view is an ideal solution for this part of the world. It uses the locally available rock and not imported materials, and is fairly simple to maintain. Design dates back to pre-independance, and I hope that they do not modernise it.
We are having a lazy day tomorrow (Christmas Day), and had planned another walk along the coast from Cruzinha to Ponta do Sol for Boxing Day, but will see how we feel tomorrow, as I'm not too sure that my knee will cope with another walk.
We the proceeded to walk down into the crater and back up the other side, before a steep walk down to Cabo de Riveira, and when I say steep, bloody hell, it was really mountain goat territory. There was a proper path, but it was knee killing terrain, and it killed my left knee. The scenery is really out of this world.
We finished the path and got onto the road, where we found a local restaurant Ady et Juju, which provided us some really needed food. After food, we started down the road back to Paul. And it seemed to be all downhill, so more knee killing. I said to my daughter that at the rate we were going it was going to take 4 hours to cover the 4.5 miles remaining.
An empty taxi came towards us, and I hailed it as my son said yes when asked, much to the displeasure of my wife & daughter. We got in and 15 minutes later and 6 EUR lighter, we were back in Paul - and were eating ice creams on the promenade. Wife and daughter then said maybe it was the right move to get a taxi.
Back to the hotel over the fantastic road we took yesterday - but at a much faster speed. I even got into 5th for a few seconds a couple of times.
We are not staying at all inclusive hotels - our main hotel (see previous post for photos) is serving good local food, and runs an honesty bar. We always prefer to eat local food, and in all our travels have rarely been disappointed.
The roads in Santo Antao are brilliant. All paved, but the majority are cobbled rather than tarmac, which in my view is an ideal solution for this part of the world. It uses the locally available rock and not imported materials, and is fairly simple to maintain. Design dates back to pre-independance, and I hope that they do not modernise it.
We are having a lazy day tomorrow (Christmas Day), and had planned another walk along the coast from Cruzinha to Ponta do Sol for Boxing Day, but will see how we feel tomorrow, as I'm not too sure that my knee will cope with another walk.
Lazy Christmas day. Morning hazy about 22 degrees, spent around the swimming pool, with some rogue and coke.
Afternoon at the beach - black sand and the Atlantic rolling in. Sun was out, temperature up to 27ish, topping up my sunburn.
The hotel owner organised a party this evening, champagne local snacks and a couple of families turned up.
Suprised at the number of French people on the island. Yesterday bumped into a couple of largish tour groups with a French speaking guide. There are direct flights from Paris to Sao Vincent.
Back to doing stuff tomorrow.
Afternoon at the beach - black sand and the Atlantic rolling in. Sun was out, temperature up to 27ish, topping up my sunburn.
The hotel owner organised a party this evening, champagne local snacks and a couple of families turned up.
Suprised at the number of French people on the island. Yesterday bumped into a couple of largish tour groups with a French speaking guide. There are direct flights from Paris to Sao Vincent.
Back to doing stuff tomorrow.
Two days report today as we got back late yesterday and was a bit knackered.
Boxing day was meant to be a walk along the coast, but out walk down from the crater on Christmas Eve put paid to that as all ourlegs were still recovering. So decided to first drive back to Porto Novo to see how long it took in preparation for the drive back for the 9am ferry. Also to buy the tickets as I just could not get a good enough connection to buy them on line.
We then drove off to the west with instructions to stop at a specific restaurant Babalonya for lunch. We found it and spent a very nice relaxing couple of hours over lunch.
This was folllowed by a hectic dash to get to the western most village. This involved driving over a 5200 ft pass. Managed to get there, but needed to turn back almost immediately as it was a 3 hour drive to cover about 20 miles as the crow flies.
I mentioned in a previous post that the roads a cobbled. We noticed on this drive that someone had had the superb idea of making dotted lines in the middle of the road with different coloured cobbles, this extended to a continuous line round corners. What a brilliant idea, no maintainance cost. The couple of tarmac stretches are in need of maintenance already.
Today was another lazy day, drove across to Ribiera Grande for lunch, back to the hotel for swimming in the sea this afternoon.
Tomorrow early departure back on the ferry to Sao Vincent and our last night before flying home on Friday.
Boxing day was meant to be a walk along the coast, but out walk down from the crater on Christmas Eve put paid to that as all ourlegs were still recovering. So decided to first drive back to Porto Novo to see how long it took in preparation for the drive back for the 9am ferry. Also to buy the tickets as I just could not get a good enough connection to buy them on line.
We then drove off to the west with instructions to stop at a specific restaurant Babalonya for lunch. We found it and spent a very nice relaxing couple of hours over lunch.
This was folllowed by a hectic dash to get to the western most village. This involved driving over a 5200 ft pass. Managed to get there, but needed to turn back almost immediately as it was a 3 hour drive to cover about 20 miles as the crow flies.
I mentioned in a previous post that the roads a cobbled. We noticed on this drive that someone had had the superb idea of making dotted lines in the middle of the road with different coloured cobbles, this extended to a continuous line round corners. What a brilliant idea, no maintainance cost. The couple of tarmac stretches are in need of maintenance already.
Today was another lazy day, drove across to Ribiera Grande for lunch, back to the hotel for swimming in the sea this afternoon.
Tomorrow early departure back on the ferry to Sao Vincent and our last night before flying home on Friday.
Edited by nvubu on Wednesday 27th December 19:57
Back home now - the temperature difference is very noticeable.
Not much to report on the last couple of days. Very early start (6:45) for the drive across the island to hand the car back and catch the 9am ferry. Made it in plenty of time. There was quite a long queue to buy tickets on the day, so the earlier purchase was a good idea. Crossing not so choppy as the way over - my wife was able to walk around and take a couple of photos.
We phoned the taxi guy we had been using while in Mindelo to let him know we were on the ferry and he met us and took us to our hotel down by the airport for our last night - the Foya Branca. This was a much more touristy hotel than any of the others we had used, but was relatively empty when we arrived. Two swimming pools (one pointless for adults as only 1.5m deep), the beach, a tennis court (but no balls, so a bit useless again), We had a villa with 4 bedrooms, a lounge, kitchen, 2 bathrooms - but was a little run down, and could do with some maintenance - silly little things like a window shutter hold back was missing, one of the toilets had a sticking ballcock.
We spent the day relaxing and basically doing nothing. I think the staff thought that we were going to run away as they kept asking us to go to reception to pay the bill - even though we still had some more drinks to sign for. I waited until the following day.
Next day, cleared the bill, and ordered a taxi for 11:15 to the airport for out 13:30 flight. Airport is 5-10 mins away, and I thought that we could either sit in our rooms on our phones or get to the airport and sit on our phones - yours truly excepted as my phone was still bricked.
That was a good plan as at 11:30 there were no queues to check in - even though we had checked-in on line, you still have to check in at a desk in Africa. Security and passport control - where we finally got a stamp, which made my daughter very happy. It is a nice small airport, there's a very small duty free - when for those with only hand luggage - which was us - you can buy some Grogue to take back.
Flights with TAP Air Portugal were on time for once, so we had no issues in Lisbon connecting. We had been watching the flights over the week as there were a couple of days when the flight from VXE arrived in LIS after, or very close to, the departure time of the flight to LHR. I was half wanting this to be the case to see what TAP would do as we were in no rush to get home as it is now the weekend.
Got home at 23:59.
I'll try to put together a summary and my recommendations/thoughts. Also will post some more photos as was difficult to do from my tablet.
Not much to report on the last couple of days. Very early start (6:45) for the drive across the island to hand the car back and catch the 9am ferry. Made it in plenty of time. There was quite a long queue to buy tickets on the day, so the earlier purchase was a good idea. Crossing not so choppy as the way over - my wife was able to walk around and take a couple of photos.
We phoned the taxi guy we had been using while in Mindelo to let him know we were on the ferry and he met us and took us to our hotel down by the airport for our last night - the Foya Branca. This was a much more touristy hotel than any of the others we had used, but was relatively empty when we arrived. Two swimming pools (one pointless for adults as only 1.5m deep), the beach, a tennis court (but no balls, so a bit useless again), We had a villa with 4 bedrooms, a lounge, kitchen, 2 bathrooms - but was a little run down, and could do with some maintenance - silly little things like a window shutter hold back was missing, one of the toilets had a sticking ballcock.
We spent the day relaxing and basically doing nothing. I think the staff thought that we were going to run away as they kept asking us to go to reception to pay the bill - even though we still had some more drinks to sign for. I waited until the following day.
Next day, cleared the bill, and ordered a taxi for 11:15 to the airport for out 13:30 flight. Airport is 5-10 mins away, and I thought that we could either sit in our rooms on our phones or get to the airport and sit on our phones - yours truly excepted as my phone was still bricked.
That was a good plan as at 11:30 there were no queues to check in - even though we had checked-in on line, you still have to check in at a desk in Africa. Security and passport control - where we finally got a stamp, which made my daughter very happy. It is a nice small airport, there's a very small duty free - when for those with only hand luggage - which was us - you can buy some Grogue to take back.
Flights with TAP Air Portugal were on time for once, so we had no issues in Lisbon connecting. We had been watching the flights over the week as there were a couple of days when the flight from VXE arrived in LIS after, or very close to, the departure time of the flight to LHR. I was half wanting this to be the case to see what TAP would do as we were in no rush to get home as it is now the weekend.
Got home at 23:59.
I'll try to put together a summary and my recommendations/thoughts. Also will post some more photos as was difficult to do from my tablet.
We’re off to Cape Verde on Tuesday for a week. Staying at the Riu Toureg. It wasn’t our first choice of hotel after reading some reviews but the prices suddenly jumped up before we’d booked and our first choice was then out of our budget.
Still can’t wait to go. Haven’t been on holiday for a couple of years so this is much needed.
Still can’t wait to go. Haven’t been on holiday for a couple of years so this is much needed.
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