Friday – May 8, 2026 – Mindelo
When we surveyed the harbor at Mindelo we saw a strange-looking object not far from our ship. Looking out the window from the restaurant we asked the other diners and the wait staff if the object was a rock or an upturned ship or something else. Today’s featured photo is a view of that object from the level of the dining room (though later in the day). Results of the survey are found in today’s gallery and in the text of this post.
We visited Mindelo last year (as noted in yesterday’s post). Kelsey and I took the included tour – Jan remained on the ship as she was not feeling well. Today all of us are “in the pink” and ready for an excursion. This particular excursion is a walking tour of the city center area of Mindelo.
We boarded a small van (10 person) and the last person to enter was our guide for the tour – Bia. The shuttle would take us from the pier to an area on shore. She gave us an overview of what we would be seeing and some history of Mindelo and Sao Vincente Island. I asked her about the wreck in the bay. She said that happened around 5 years ago and it was not removed because it would be very expensive to do so. She also told us about Hurricane Erin that hit Mindelo in August of 2025. The result of that hit is that many public facilities near the harbor are closed and undergoing repair.
We discovered that some of our friends would be in groups touring concurrent with our group (46). Joe, Deborah, Richard, Shiv, Gerrit and Hilda were in group 48 so we expected to see them as we walked around town. After assembling group 46 on the Avenida Marginal (main drag near the water), we began our walk to the fish market. Along the way, Bia gave us background information an pointed out items of interest like Face Mountain behind MSC Magnifica and damage still visible from Hurricane Erin. There were many paintings on the buildings along the way – I included a couple in the gallery. We have seen paintings like these are ways to beautify damaged areas of cities (like Christchurch, New Zealand).
Soon we arrived at the fish market – you could tell before we arrived because there is a distinct odor. Once inside we were told not to photograph vendors without obtaining permission. I chose to take wide photos and skip the approval step. While in the market we saw Joe and Deborah – they became detached from their group, so we invited them to join us and introduced them to Bia. While in the market we saw Magnifica’s food and beverage director (Giavonni Caso) doing a deal to purchase fish for the ship – or at least we believe that is what he was doing.
Across the street from the fish market is an area that was once a prison that is now an artist colony. The cells of the prison are now individual spots for artists to create be it painting, sculpture, pottery or the like. We viewed a few of the pieces of art created there which included a statue with 4 arms holding a child. As we are running out of room – even with the purchase of our 7th suitcase in Mauritius – we opted not to make a bid for that statue.
Next point of interest on our walk was the African market. It got its name from the type of goods for sale and the source of those goods. People from the area due East from Sao Vincente brave the Atlantic to bring their goods here for sale. There were many wooden statues, woven baskets and bright-colored clothes for sale in the market – not much that was mass-produced. Our guide told us that we could find similar products for sale outside the city center at stores owned by Chinese. The Chinese government has made arrangements to provide capital improvements (schools, atheletic stadiums, etc.) in exchange for low or no taxes for a number of years. This allows them to sell against the African market at lower prices. If we had found anything in the market we wanted, we would have purchased it there, but we did not.
Our walk continued to the oldest Catholic church in Mindelo. Along the way we passed a store with signage for a festival held to honor the mackerel fishermen. Mackerel is a major source of income for this island. Upon arrival at the church, we spent a few minutes to view the interior then returned to the square outside to continue our walk through the city center.
At the town hall we listened as Bia explained the Cape Verde flag. Kelsey and I had heard the explanation last year so it was a refresher course for us. Bia’s talk reminded me of Sheldon and Amy’s “Fun With Flags” blog on “Big Bang Theory”.
Down the street was our next stop – Mindelo Municipal Market. The market is held in a 2-story building located on one of the main city center streets. Inside were many types of fruits, vegetables and hand-made goods (like woven baskets, hats and purses). We noticed one fruit that looked like durian but was smaller. We knew they don’t grow durian here, searched and found the fruit is soursop – another we have never seen or heard of. When we return home we are planning to look for some of the fruits we have encountered at our grocery stores – I know Kelsey will be looking for dragon fruit.
From the market we walked to a square near the National Center for Art. There were a couple statues there but I don’t remember who or what they did to deserve a statue in a city square. The art center next door is brightly colored with oil drum lids which are visible in both the photos taken in the square.
Bia led us to a restaurant where we received snacks and drinks as part of the tour. She said her “Goodbye” and we took a table with Joe and Deborah to enjoy the food and drink. The beer I had was in the smallest bottle I have seen – it was called a “mini” for good reason. While at the table Joe and Deborah struck up a conversation with the couple sitting across from them. Turns out that couple was on the same 2023 MSC World Cruise that Joe and Deborah took – but they never met during that cruise. They exchanged memories of that journey, we finished our food and drink and headed out to look for a souvenir shop.
We had been told to go to the African market to look for t-shirts and other souvenirs. We really didn’t want to go that far so we stopped a local woman to ask where to find the type of things we wanted. She told us to go to a shop near the municipal market and said it would be closed until 3:00 (closing from 12:00 to 3:00 is common for many businesses in Mindelo). Joe and Deborah didn’t want to wait so they left for the shuttle bus. We decided to kill time walking around the area or sitting in the shade near an open lot about a block away. We went to the store before 3:00 and waited 15 minutes but no one came to open the door. We were walking toward the African market when we met Bia with her afternoon tour group. We explained what we wanted and she said to go across the street to another store that sold the same type of merchandise. We turned around and walked to that store, looked at what they had, found 1 shirt like we wanted and discovered that was the only shirt of that type. We checked the store that was to open at 3:00 – it was still closed. As it was close to 4:00, we decided to walk to the shuttle location and take it back to the ship. Saturday at breakfast we recounted our story to Joe and Deborah. They said they came back to town about the time we were returning to the ship. They went to the shop – it was open and they were able to purchase shirts like we wanted. Seems strange to us how the merchants here set their hours – especially when a cruise ship with 2,400 passengers hits town – but life is more laid back here and hours of operation seem to take precedence to the almighty dollar!
Back on the ship we took the elevator to deck 13 and stopped at the buffet for a snack. While there we were served by Mark who also works at breakfast in the restaurant we frequent. We talked with him about a head waiter we met last year you lives in Mauritius – Wasiim (I think I mentioned him in a previous post). Not only did Mark know him, he visited him one of the two days we were in Mauritius! We asked him to say “Hi” next time they talk. Small world!
As we were snacking in the buffet, the masted ship from India began to leave port but needed help from a tug. All 4 of us watched as it did a 180 after dropping the mooring lines. I put some photos in the gallery of this.
We returned to our cabin to relax until it was time for dinner. We had a bird’s eye view of the passengers returning. There was a receiving line with music through which all the passengers walked before boarding. As we were watching, we saw Carl, Yvonne and Dorothy approaching the ship. They had taken a 9 ½ hour tour that took them to another of the Cape Verde islands and were returning around 5:15. We waved – Carl was the first to see us. He let Yvonne know and eventually she waved back. You’ll see stills of these reactions and a video as they board Magnifica for the last time on this cruise (they are disembarking in Civitavecchia).
Although today’s excursion was the same as in 2025 (but the route was reversed), we did learn more about Mindelo and had a good time on shore.
Here is the photo and video gallery for today.
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