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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
May 26, 2006 02:00 PM Sal - Cabo Verde, Santa Maria
Santa Maria is Sal's key resort. It is a small and quiet town with rather nice beach. Getting attention from restaurateurs and bars personnel is surprisingly hard, though. One of the restaurants did not acknowledge my presence for over half an hour and then decided to close in mid morning. I could not possibly be more surprised and disappointed. I thought they would want my business, my money. It was really strange.
There were two beaches in Santa Maria and none of them were strangers to pensioners, who came to the islands for sun and flats lined along some of the beaches. I saw an old couple exercising. Their movements were hysterical. They moved their arms from one knee to another while bending with a huge struggle half way to their thighs. Not even in a 20 degree bend! Their arms moved like they were made of jelly.
The beach by the centre of the town saw more locals, and the one by the hotels and restaurants, attracted more tourists, obviously. The latter was patrolled more heavily by the police, whose objective was to extract any ‘souvenir’ sellers. They did not bother me, but I guess some people might have confused the sellers and artists with hustlers.
Sal is really boring. The island is almost completely flat and arid. Desert is what one can see. There are no trees. It is completely beyond me what reason there is to come and settle on this dry island. Yeah, perhaps it is the beaches. They are long stretches of sand battered with often strong waves. The ocean's turquoise colour adds a great contrast. It does look lovely from a distance.
Now, where there are tourists, there should be bars and clubs. I wanted to make sure that I make up to myself that I had to be stuck on the island.
The night started with me walking on a very conveniently cobbled path built on sand along the beach to the most popular night club in town of Santa Maria, the Pirata. The stars were bright and I could almost swear that one of hotels on my way invited Cesária Évora to sing in a bar! The quality of the singing and the songs was extraordinary. I stopped for a minute and listened. It was superb. I would have stayed, but my curiosity about the club was stronger.
The Pirata, which I reached at about 11.30 p.m. was very quiet. The interior was made to mock a historical wooden vessel and the attention to detail was phenomenal. There were many items that had been used on old ships and certain seating was made of rum barrels.
Prices at the bar were exorbitant yet the place got packed by 00.05 a.m. With a diabolical touch of a wand it seemed the club's door opened at midnight and a stream of locals and tourist poured inside. The locals obviously included working girls, two of whom offered me marriage as soon as I finished answering the question what my name was and where I was from.
There was no cover charge but upon entry everyone was given a drink punch card, which stated that consumption was mandatory. There were two prices of drinks: CVE 500 and CVE 750, which is EUR 5 and EUR 7.50 respectively. The measurements of the drinks were minute and a bottle of beer was either 250 ml or 200 ml, which is enough for two mid-size sips. I could not believe the prices! I figured that it was the Italians who visited Sal in the largest numbers and the bars aligned their prices with those the Italians have in Italy. Well, damn - it was not cheap there. The value of my drink card was CVE 9,750! I would never expect to be spending so much in a bar on my own! Even if I wanted to that night, I did not have enough cash on me!
So, I had four Cuba Libres, and walked back to my hotel. The bars along the beach were closed by then, but the sound of club music from the town centre accompanied me for about a mile.
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May 26, 2006 02:00 PM Sal - The Salinas
The Salinas on Sal are amongst the three places to see on the island. The sole remarkable feature of the Salinas was the disused cable car system (pictured above), which must have been utilised to transport salt from the pool to a very small port. Now, the port is not used for anything else but fishing and the salt transport is done with big trucks, which take it to Palmeiras.
The rest of the Salinas is simply unremarkable. I could not find anything exciting about it, apart perhaps an old XIX century little church, which is still in use.
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May 26, 2006 02:00 PM Sal - Cabo Verde, Banacora
The natural swimming pool, Banacora, was even worse. Although the black lava fields can stir imagination about the island’s past, the tourist attraction number two of Sal did not impress me. Yes, the coastline was rough and the lava cliffs looked unusual, however the surroundings were polluted with cigarette ends.
When I arrived by a rented car, through the desert, the swimming pool was occupied by Italian and Czech tourists. The place was so popular with visitors that even a bar was erected by the entrance to the spot. Banacora was on offer of each and every travel agent on the island and I just could not see the what there should be about it.
I guess since the island can offer only beach life and a desert, a natural swimming pool, however unappealing, is a some sort of a phenomenon.
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May 25, 2006 02:00 PM Sal - Cabo Verde, arrival
Getting a visa was time consuming. I was ninth in line and it took an hour before I got my passport stamped. A single immigration officer was in charge right then, in the middle of the night. I did not envy him at all. The line was very long, over one hundred and fifty people, which meant that he must have been there stamping passports for a long long time. Eventually, I saw a woman officer coming in and helping him with a list of pre-approved or pre-organised visas.
The people were getting very impatient. When I was leaving the immigration office, some of them made a silly comment to me. I was tired so instead of my usual wit, I told them that they were going to be in that line for hours. The expressions on their faces changed dramatically in an instance. They knew very well that it was true.
I saw the immigration officer in the morning again and I knew that he did not have more than a few hours sleep.
Well, I was glad that I finally could jump in a taxi and be in bed within an hour or so. It was a few minutes past 1 a.m. local time, two hours behind London! Luckily the taxis were still standing at the terminal building.
The darkness was thorough. The car moved smoothly on an empty dual lane road which actually looked like a motorway. Dark shadows that struggled to take any shape gave away the fact that the island was almost completely flat and covered with a desert. There was absolutely no vegetation of any kind. Just emptiness and sadness. At least the sky looked amazing with all the stars visible, like they were computer-generated.
That taxi driver knew the way well and found the hotel of my choice with no problem. A young and very tall receptionist (he must have been more than two meters tall) was waiting. The entire trip from the airport to the hotel took about a quarter of an hour.
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May 25, 2006 02:00 PM Sal - Cabo Verde, International Airport
The airport of Sal had become a frequently travelled to place. Unfortunately, I must add. The second time I had to take a trip there after arrival was to take a chance to get on a plane to São Vicente. So, it was an early morning start that day.
Although I was on a waiting list, I had to go to the check-in counter to be placed on the real waiting list. The waiting list in the computer was only good for the computer. The lady at the check-in desk actually decided who could fly and who could not, based on the first-come fist-served basis. In theory, anyway!
Then, as I had to pay for the ticket at the office in the main terminal building and not in the departure hall, in the meantime they started registering and someone took my place on the real waiting list. Since I was not physically there in the departing hall, I had no chance to protest.
Then, the third time I went to the airport was to check if I could get on the second plane, which was to leave in the evening.
As I got to the check-in counter I found that my seats got confirmed for the flight that... just got cancelled. Thus, my seat confirmed on the next morning flight was obviously cancelled too, since I became confirmed from the waiting list on the previous flight, the one I could not travel.
Well, I am not sure if it makes sense, so I explain it this way. I was on two system-based waiting lists: for Friday morning flight, which I did not take, being up-seated by someone, and for Friday evening. I had confirmed seats for Saturday morning. It was not ideal but I could still work my itinerary. As my seats became available for Friday evening, the system confirmed my Friday night flight and (rightly so) cancelled my booking for Saturday morning. My problem was that the Friday night flight was cancelled altogether, because of a broken aircraft. And since I had no booking for Saturday anymore, my situation did not look very pretty.
The airline put me in the allegedly best hotel on Sal - Crioula. Apparently it was the first five star hotel on the island. I would not give the establishment four stars but hey this is me. I am a guy with high expectations. And I had been to a few five star hotels in my life.
The airline kept promising that I should be able to leave to São Vicente on Saturday, but they could not specify the time, since they were unsure when they were going to be able to repair the plane. They instructed me to remain at the hotel, enjoy free food and beer and wait for a phone call.
So, unwillingly I was still on Sal, in the town called Santa Maria.
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May 24, 2006 02:00 PM Sal - Cabo Verde, before arrival
This one was a short ‘longer weekend’ escapade to the islands. From the outset I knew that I would not be able to see many of them. The usual trick was to select those, I could actually visit and would keep me interested. And since I was not going alone, I had to be prepared to compromise. I am not good at compromising at all. I continue working on this disability, but it is not easy.
Eventually, the choice fell on the Windward Islands (the Barlaventos) made of Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, São Nicolau, Sal and Boa Vista. However, they were still too many, and further selection was necessary. Sal was were the plane landed. São Vincente was the one where Cesária Évora is from and where the islands’ most picturesque town is located. And Santo Antão was near enough to visit its volcanic hills.
For the Leeward Islands (the Sotaventos) in the south, comprising of Brava, Fogo, Santiago and Maio, there was obviously no time.
The logistics would work like this: From London, I take a flight to Lisbon and then to Sal. The air plane touches down before midnight. The next morning, I take an internal flight to São Vicente and after spending a couple of days, I go on a short, one hour, boat trip to Santo Antão. I return to Sal in the same way.
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Apr 30, 2006 02:00 PM Ojcowski National Park (Poland)
I knew the place from pictures but had never been here. The limestone region of Ojcow is abundant in great caves, many with bats, and formidable rock formations. Also, the Ojcowski National Park includes a remarkable Royal Castle dating back late Medieval and early Renaissance periods. Its location is so spectacular that it extremely rewarding. The facilities by the castle (just a poor cafe) are not great, but who cares, as the nature is so overwhelming.
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Apr 30, 2006 02:00 PM Niepolomice (Poland) - a little Wawel castle
Niepolomice was a new spot on the map of Poland to me again. It is a lovely little town of about 8,000 people, where the kings of Poland established a base for hunting. It is only 25 km west of Krakow, then the capital, and a superb castle was build on the banks of the Vistula river as a temporary base. The construction was started in the middle ages in the Gothic style by Kazimierz III the Great, but Zygmunt II August rebuilt the castle in the Renaissance style, to match his residence in the capital. It is a truly picturesque place. The town boasts also great scenery and lovely churches.
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Apr 29, 2006 02:00 PM Nidzica (Poland) - a great castle
It was almost impossible to find a room in Zakopane, so we continued to Pieniny and stopped in Nidzica, by the artificial lake. It is probably one of the nicest castles in southern Poland. It beautifully located and in a great shape. What a classic. There is nothing more to Nidzica than the castle, so we did not stay there long. Also, parts of the castle were not open for public due to some party that was being organised. We moved on to see more of Pieniny.
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Apr 29, 2006 02:00 PM Pieniny (Poland) - Trzy Korony
I had never reached Trzy Korony mountain in Pieniny at the border river of Dunajec, across which Slovakia lays. It was a great sight. The mountain looked so majestic and so unreal. Many people come to do the Dunajec ride on large wooden rafts. It is a rapid river and the scenery is so spectacular that the National Park has been on a waiting list for the UNESCO inscription.
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