Product Details
Cape Verde Islands, 3rd: The Bradt Travel Guide

Cape Verde Islands, 3rd: The Bradt Travel Guide
By Aisling Irwin, Colum Wilson

Price:

This item is not available for purchase from this store.
Click here to go to Amazon to see other purchasing options.


21 new or used available from $0.25

Average customer review:

Product Description

Adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, one of the attractions of the Cape Verde Islands is the watersports; surfing, windsurfing, diving, and fishing. Travelers are also lured to the islands by the promise of scenic hikes around the dramatic terrain of these volcanic outcrops, including the climb up the Pico de Fogo volcanic cone. Many off-the-beaten-track highlights are provided to help explorers discover the hidden treasures of this magical archipelago, from beautiful bays with whaling history and beaches teeming with turtles to botanical gardens and cobbled paths leading to summits high above sea level.

Features include:
>How to get there, where to stay, and specialty restaurants
>Local culture, including music, customs, and history
>Detailed hiking routes for all levels of experience
>Maps and town plans of key areas of the islands

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #874851 in Books
  • Published on: 2006-05-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 296 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The only travel guide in English is the excellent and up-to-date Bradt Travel Guide." The Guardian

"Best guidebook."  The Sunday Times

"Reliable and well researched." The Bookseller

From the Back Cover

"Crumbs that fell from God's fingers"--how else could this string of Atlantic islands have come to be marooned, 460 km from the west African coast?
 
The Bradt guide to the Cape Verde Islands is the ideal manual for maneuvering across this Caribbean-influenced archipelago. Founded by pirates and merchant sailors centuries ago, this Creole nationhood offers the traveler a beguiling landscape of sandy beaches and sulphurous volcanic slopes, ripe for exploration. With a vibrant culture rich in maritime history and a people passionate about music--prepare to be enchanted.
 
*Travel around and between islands
 
*Where to stay, eat and visit--fully updated
 
*Detailed hikes on each of the islands
 
*Music, poetry, and other cultural traditions
 
*Windsurfing, diving, and other watersports
 
*New town maps

About the Author

Aisling Irwin and Colum Wilson have extensive expedition experience in Africa and the Middle East; they are currently based in Zambia. Aisling is an award-winning journalist and Colum is a civil engineer involved in overseas development work and health projects.

Customer Reviews

Finally a guide in English - And it is excellent!5
Irwin and Wilson's guide gives you all the factual information you need, and in addition succeeds in capturing the spirit of Cape Verde, with boxes on cultural and historical issues linked to each island. There is no doubt about it: This is the best guide available. If you read German, Rolf Osang's "Kapverdische Inseln" from Dumont is nearly as good and a useful supplement (especially when it comes to photos). The chapters on Cape Verde in Rough Guides' and Lonely Planet's books on West Africa are neither up-to-date nor in-depth enough if you plan to spend more than a few days in Cape Verde (which you should!).

The appendix on Crioulo language in Irwin and Wilson's book is brief but good. Don't be put off by the nasty details on horrible diseases in the section on health!

Perfect blend of insight and practical help5
This was just the sort of thing a hardened backpacker needed. It had all the useful nooks and crannies of info you need - plus the fact that it filled in a lot of the extra info you like to get about a place you're seeing. They gave a great account of the islands' history - it was really moving.

An essential for the cruising bookshelf5
I first visited the Cape Verdes in 1987 while researching the ATLANTIC ISLANDS, a sailing guide covering the Azores, Madeira group, Canaries and Cape Verdes, now in its third edition. Getting information on the Cape Verdes in the English language was difficult in the extreme -- if only Aisling and Colum's excellent book had been available then! These days no sane person should visit the islands without reading it first. The Cape Verdes come as something of a culture shock after the Canaries -- this book will explain why, and help you get the most from the experience. Buy it!