Cape Verde – 137th Country. To see where I have been so far, check out my map as I count down the final 93 countries on the road to all 193 UN countries. Cape Verde is my 137th country.
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Cabo Verde is a series of 10 volcanic islands in the central Atlantic Ocean. The islands were uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and then colonized the islands. The islands importance increased as the slave trade grew, but today this nation of 500,000 is dependent on tourism, investment, and the service industry. The island peacefully won its independence from Portugal in 1974. Today, Cape Verde is considered one of the most stable and democratic nations in Africa.
A direct flight from Lisbon brought me to the capital of Cape Verde, Praia. I also met up with fellow 193er chaser, Pong from Thailand for lunch as our trip overlapped. I spent three nights on this island with a visit to the UNESCO Cidade Velha (old city). I then took an hour flight to the island of Sao Vincente and set up base in Mindelo. I was graciously hosted by my friend’s mother who is from Cape Verde. And I took a ferry to visit the neighboring island of Santo Antao, which was full of mountainous beauty. Overall, Cape Verde, while part of Africa felt more Caribbean than Africa.
Cape Verde – 137th Country
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[…] Verde. I jetted off from Lisbon to Cape Verde for a week of exploring three different islands. This former Portuguese colony is low key offering […]
Well done there on stability… Also.. very interesting to see Cidade Velha having obtained UNESCO World Heritage status… when Ellie & I visited Bhutan we were made to believe that the reason why there are no UNESCO sites there is because the country is too small to qualify.. it’s still much bigger than Cape Verde though.. Looks like I’ll be doing some more research..
Yeah, Bhutan definitely deserves many UNESCO sites. Size of the country does not matter. There is a process to be designated UNESCO, probably many steps. 😉 Bhutan has 8 sites on the Tentative List, so hopefully they will be winning the designation.