Carnaval 2007 - Mindelo

The Carnival, also known as Mardi Gras, is one of the most anticipated celebrations in Cape Verde. This holiday mobilizes the population that organizes parades and street parties that rival with the best of the world. The most famous carnival in Cape Verde is the one from São Vicente's capital city, Mindelo.

This year, three groups shined in Mindelo's Carnival parade: Sonhos sem Limites (Dreams without Limits), Flores de Mindelo (Mindelo Flowers) and Maravilhas do Espaço (Space Wonders). Maravilhas do Espaço won the majority of the awards, including the Best Group award.

Main Awards:

Best Group Maravilhas do Espaço

King of Carnaval Flores do Mindelo (Nelson Delgado)

Queen of Carnaval Maravilhas do Espaço (Alicia dos Reis Brito)

Best Parade Car Maravilhas do Espaço

Flag Carrier Flores do Mindelo (Ana Júlia Brito)

Best Music Maravilhas do Espaço (Dany and José Pedro Mariano)



A few photos from Mindelo's Carnaval 2007

Photos are courtesy of Mindelo Infos. You can see more photos of the Mindelo's Carnival here.

Maio Island

The town of Maio, the capital of the island, is also known by the name of Vila do Porto Inglês (Town of the English Port) due to the presence of English vessels in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Fairly arid until its recent forestation, the island now offers the greatest expanse of greenery in the archipelago. Maio island is encircled by beaches of fine pearly sand that provides a delicious contrast with the crystalline warm blue sea.

A trip to the island offers a quiet refuge ideal for relaxation. Lovers of diving and fishing can also enjoy the rich sea life. Another favourite tourist attraction is a peculiar form of rodeo involving the capture of a wild donkey.

Brava Island

Brava is the smallest of the inhabited islands of the archipelago of Cape Verde. Being a rare combination of three qualities, colourful, small and beautiful, Brava is also known as the island of flowers. The climate’s freshness and humidity encourages the growth of an unusual abundant vegetation.

Vila de Nova Sintra, the island’s capital, is rich in dream houses and beautiful gardens filled with flowers. The famous Fonte Vinagre, a thermal spa of acidic mineral water with medicinal effects lies nearby the town.

Fajã d’Agua is the name of the sheltered bay which harbours boats in stormy weather. The marine blue of the sea contrasts deeply with the surrounding luxuriously green vegetation, making it an amazing scenery. The bay also provides unrivalled conditions for fishing sports, and is an essential site to be seen.

The island’s abundant beauty makes it a pleasure to wander through its terrain, in search of hidden locations which shelter tiny, but very welcoming populations.

Cape Verde, a top holiday destination

Cape Verde strengthens its position as a top new tourist destination by participating in numerous tourism fairs across Europe. According to news site A Semana online:

In addition to Lisbon and Madrid, Cape Verde will also be represented at the Milan Tourism Fair, the Berlin Tourism Fair, the Deauville Top Resa and the London World Tourism Market.

CI also highlights the importance of the opening of Praia International Airport, which has facilitated access to tourist “products” from the islands of Santiago, Fogo, Brava and Maio, including eco-tourism, religious and rural tourism, business travelling, etc.

In another article A Semana let us know of the plans to increase the number of flights from Lisbon to Sal by portuguese airline TAP.

This growth accompanies the dynamic of the Cape Verde’s transformation process and includes new airports, new ports of entry for tourists into the country. The concentration of entries that began with Sal is becoming diluted, and in a few years we’ll have various points of entry for investments and tourists in Cape Verde.

Also on the news, the new cape Verdean airline, Halcyon Air, will begin to operate in March.

The company will operate daily flights between the archipelago’s three largest islands – Santiago, Sal and Sao Vicente – and will run four weekly flights to Boavista Island and two flights per week between Sal and Fogo islands.

São Nicolau Island

On a clear day, this mountainous island of rugged terrain and unique beauty, offers views of the rest of the archipelago.

Visitors to the island may discover the town of Ribeira Brava, filled with many squares, narrow streets and alleyways, a typical example of colonial influence. The school-seminary is an essential site to visit, along with the parish church and the ancient Sé Catedral (Sé Cathedral). The seminary was the first secondary school in Cape Verde and the entire Western coast of Africa.

The town on Tarrafal is renowned for its beach of black sand, rich in titanium and iodine, and visited by many people in search from relief from physical pains, such as rheumatism.

The bountiful sea that surrounds S. Nicolau attracts fishing lovers from around the world, who always marvel at the abundance of swordfish, blue marlin and other typical species of the region.

Cesária Evora

Her full name is Cesária Joana Evora and she is known as Cise to her friends. But the world has come up with a new name for her: the Barefoot Diva. Born in August 1941 in the city of Mindelo in São Vicente, one of the ten islands which make up the Cape-Verdean archipelago.



The song she sings in this video is Sodade, a morna (a genre of cape-verdean music related to related to Portuguese fado, Angolan lament and Brazilian modinha).

Fogo Island

Originally named São Filipe, Fogo Island (Fire in portuguese) was renamed because of its volcano, which is famous for being one of the most perfectly shaped cones in the world.



The city of São Filipe is the island's capital. Visitors can enjoy the elegant mansions built in the Portuguese colonial style that contrast deeply with the modest surrounding houses.



The island is famous for its production of the famous "café di Fogo" (Fogo's coffee), considered one of the best in the world. Along with the coffee there is also a vine production, in the heart of the volcanic crater. One must-have souvenir is the local wine called manecon, witch is highly appreciated that is produced without any chemicals in its composition.



The volcano is in fact the main tourist attraction on the island taking just over 4 hours to climb to the top. Reaching a height of about 3000 meters, it offers one of the most spectacular views and scenery of the whole of the Cape Verde Islands.