Porto Grande, Cape Verde
23November 2007- Friday
Porte Grande, Sao Vincente Island, Cape Verde
Beautiful weather for arrival but wind and seas are up and almost got flung out of the shower. On deck for arrival at Porto Grande and thought the Captain would have more trouble docking becase of high winds. at 0810 the first shuttle bus (free) took of for town, but I decided to wait til 9 to avoid the rush and the fact that things were probably not open before 9.
Oh I shsould mention that Cape Verde used to belong to Portugal and believe it was descovered by one of their navigators- Cabral. Now they have their own flag and money (it is still called escudo) and the population is mostly black African former slaves. My first stop is the post office where I try to get stamps but the only money they take is escudo. So I walk to a very nice square where I find a bank and change dollars into escudo- 71 escudo for each dollar. Ah, the good old days. Pick up a lot of postcards get my stamps and go back to the ship- 10 minutes by shuttle- doubted I could have written these in the park because of the wind. Finish my chores and head back to town for a walk about to take pictures ( with my lesser camera so as not to atract attention) get hit on by a couple of beggars otherwise nice walk. Architecture is Portugese with second story balconies- place looked a little grubby in parts but lots of new paint and construction- so maybe there is a tourist boom. At dinner, Clive the Welchman says he heard the other islands were being developed for holiday homes for Europeans, but pointed out that it is a 6 hour flight from UK and you can be in Orlando Florida in that time. Plus, the places were not cheap and airfare bound to rise.)
So, back to the ship for high tea at 4, and enjoy the departure from the dock at 5pm. Wind still hadn't let up but with thrusters et al no trouble leaving the port. I especially like the 3 blasts on the horn when we leave port- great sound- like a giant tuba. After dinner had a piano concert by Elena Ivanina- a Russian who now lives in Connecticut. She is very good, a thin blonde in white gown, dimmed light so she can run a slide show a a back drop. Usually tells a story about the composer or the song and proceeds to bang the keys. The guy that ran the slides screwed up but she was game and the show went on... Edward Grieg, a national treasure of the Norwegians who supported him for his entire life with a building complex in Bergen, Frederick Chopin who had an affair with a woman who flaunted all the social customs- George Sands, Peter Ilyich Tshaikovsky who had a patroness whom he never metbut exchanged over a thousand letters with, and Felix Mendelsohn, a Jew raised as a Protestant who resdiscovered Johann Sebastian Bach who's music had not been played in hundred years. Another episode of Rome kept me up past my bedtime.
Porte Grande, Sao Vincente Island, Cape Verde
Beautiful weather for arrival but wind and seas are up and almost got flung out of the shower. On deck for arrival at Porto Grande and thought the Captain would have more trouble docking becase of high winds. at 0810 the first shuttle bus (free) took of for town, but I decided to wait til 9 to avoid the rush and the fact that things were probably not open before 9.
Oh I shsould mention that Cape Verde used to belong to Portugal and believe it was descovered by one of their navigators- Cabral. Now they have their own flag and money (it is still called escudo) and the population is mostly black African former slaves. My first stop is the post office where I try to get stamps but the only money they take is escudo. So I walk to a very nice square where I find a bank and change dollars into escudo- 71 escudo for each dollar. Ah, the good old days. Pick up a lot of postcards get my stamps and go back to the ship- 10 minutes by shuttle- doubted I could have written these in the park because of the wind. Finish my chores and head back to town for a walk about to take pictures ( with my lesser camera so as not to atract attention) get hit on by a couple of beggars otherwise nice walk. Architecture is Portugese with second story balconies- place looked a little grubby in parts but lots of new paint and construction- so maybe there is a tourist boom. At dinner, Clive the Welchman says he heard the other islands were being developed for holiday homes for Europeans, but pointed out that it is a 6 hour flight from UK and you can be in Orlando Florida in that time. Plus, the places were not cheap and airfare bound to rise.)
So, back to the ship for high tea at 4, and enjoy the departure from the dock at 5pm. Wind still hadn't let up but with thrusters et al no trouble leaving the port. I especially like the 3 blasts on the horn when we leave port- great sound- like a giant tuba. After dinner had a piano concert by Elena Ivanina- a Russian who now lives in Connecticut. She is very good, a thin blonde in white gown, dimmed light so she can run a slide show a a back drop. Usually tells a story about the composer or the song and proceeds to bang the keys. The guy that ran the slides screwed up but she was game and the show went on... Edward Grieg, a national treasure of the Norwegians who supported him for his entire life with a building complex in Bergen, Frederick Chopin who had an affair with a woman who flaunted all the social customs- George Sands, Peter Ilyich Tshaikovsky who had a patroness whom he never metbut exchanged over a thousand letters with, and Felix Mendelsohn, a Jew raised as a Protestant who resdiscovered Johann Sebastian Bach who's music had not been played in hundred years. Another episode of Rome kept me up past my bedtime.
Labels: bardelona to rio
posted by DT at 9:00 AM
1 Comments:
Glad to hear you are enjoying Rome.
They travelled quite a bit as well.
tpm
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