City tour of Praia (Plateau)

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A visit to Plateau means discovering a part of the history of Santiago with a great deal of symbolism, built on a basaltic platform overlooking the bay of Santa Maria. The relocation to Plateau from Cidade Velha was due to the constant attacks from pirates.  Been that it is on the top of the city it applied an advantage for security reasons, for the Townhouses, markets, museums, and government residences. 
The Plateau Market symbolizes the culture of commerce and the Archaeological Museum the ancient history. In each street or alley portrays everyday life in a mixture of times, but the Plateau shows a part of our Portuguese colonial history, as the new street art painting well exemplified.

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Cidade Velha

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Consider as the old city, Cidade Velha who also was known as Ribeira Grande was the first city built by Europeans in sub-Saharan Africa and the first capital of Cape Verde. Today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the birthplace of Cape Verdean culture. There are still several ruins testifying to its sumptuous past, with its history and monuments such as the Pelourinho, erected in 1520 where the slaves were whipped. It is the most vivid memory of the slavery era in Cape Verde. The Fortaleza de S. Filipe, one of the great historical monuments of the City of Ribeira Grande is the testimony of the Portuguese presence the island. It was built after Drake's attack in 1585, the City was manned from this fort, whose construction would have started in 1593. 
The City has a unique authenticity and represents the beginning of the short, but striking history of Creole history.

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Full Island Tour of Santiago

The island of Santiago, the first of the archipelago to be inhabited, is about 25 km from Maio and 50 km from Fogo.
Santiago is a volcanic origin island, has several mountainous areas, with Pico de António, 1392 meters high, the highest point in the territory.

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Thus, the island is full of deep valleys and has a coastline full of reefs, interspersed with sandy beaches. The climate is wetter in the highlands and more arid in the intermediate zones and the visit should be done in stages. The first step is Praia / Assomada.

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The scenery along the route is magnificent and a stop at São Jorge Village de ORGAOS where we can be amaze by Pico de António and the people’s “morabeza”. From Assomada, the road goes to Boa Entrada to admire the magnificent tree of extraordinary proportions with the name of "Pé de Polom" a fromager specie of 500 years.

At the north end of the island is the village of Tarrafal, where there is the only white sand beach on the island. However, the village is best known for having functioned as a Portuguese penal colony, built in 1936, which served as a concentration camp for political prisoners.
On the way back to Praia, the road passes by Pedro Badejo on the coast where the limpid blue of the lagoons and the rich green of the luxurious tropical vegetation of banana fields blend together beautifully.

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