One day late with my reveal - apologies - life got in the way. No, we didn't stay in Cornwall or go to Spain - we were in the magnificent Cape Verde islands which are here:
Pretty much in the middle of no-where and, therefore, very un "touristy", very warm and very windy (in a nice cooling way).
We stayed on the main island (Santiago) in the capital (Praia) - pronounced pry-er - in a very nice hotel (lucky us!).
I love travelling and I love seeing how other people live so Cape Verde was wonderful. We hired a car and travelled around and even the roads are interesting - no, really, they are. Look:
Every single individual piece of stone is cut and laid by hand and these roads go all over the island, round the coast, up the mountains etc. They're an incredible feat of engineering. The only problem is that when one stone "lifts" you very soon get a pot-hole so we saw several "gangs" repairing the roads - mostly women, I have to say.
A lot of the men work "off-island" in Europe (Cape Verde is now independent but was part of Portugal) so the ladies (and children) are left to do pretty much everything else and the biggest burden is the daily collection of water. It only rains for 2 months a year and, for the rest of the year, the water is either pumped or bowsered up to water tanks. It really, really makes you think:
There are a few beaches:
and the fish was fantastic!!
On the knitting front, I didn't knit a single stitch whilst away but, since getting home, I've finished the back of The Slowest Tank Top In The History Of The World Ever and have even cast on the front and knitted a few rows or rib - hoorah!
The animals survived fine without us (thanks Granny), the boys thrived without us (thanks Granny, Mads and Jane) and I lost 5lbs in weight whilst we were away so, frankly, my dears I'm thinking of going back - not sure what the Bank Manager would have to say about that though. Actually, I do, and it's unrepeatable.
And my first instinct was Canary Isles, but it didn't look touristy enough so I thought you went somewhere off the beaten track in Spain- but geographically it was closer!
ReplyDeleteThat really looks like a nice trip, glad you enjoyed it! Those roads might inspire a knitting pattern, don't you think?