As a result of the Portuguese and Spanish colonization effort in the 1500s, a lot of European civilization has been carried through the seas and into other continents. And if the main effort of colonization was carried out in the mainland, several islands bear the stamp of the European colonial powers. Today we’ll be focusing on the Spanish Canary Islands and the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde. Both of these archipelagos lie near the Northern coast of Africa and are some of the best holiday destinations in the World.
Cape Verde was uninhabited when the Portuguese got there, but soon there was a thriving community in place. The islands’ natural beauty, along with the abundance of resources, soon made it an important colony and an important waypoint on the way to the bigger colonies of Angola and Mozambique, further South in the African continent. Nowadays, the colony has achieved independence, in the mid seventies, and has established itself as an important holiday destination.
Clearly and underdog compared to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde has nonetheless seen a steady increase in tourism. This is mostly due to the incredible beauty of the islands and of its beaches, the incredibly cheap deals that you can find there and the amazing people that live there. Cape Verde is one of the safest places on the planet, and its people are a happy and musical people that love life, and that rubs on anyone who visits the islands.
Canary islands holidays have been popular for quite a while, although not as popular as the Baleares islands, Spain’s Mediterranean islands. These islands were also a former waypoint in the trade between Spain and its colonies, mainly the western Indies. The islands have amazing natural beauty, recognized both by Unesco, who declared their old capital a World Heritage Site and by the world wildlife society who made one of the islands – La Palma – a biosphere reserve.
If you’re planning on visiting the entire archipelago and not just a select island, the best choice would be to get an all inclusive holidays package that included travel across the entire archipelago. If you’re planning to spend your entire time on one island, the best idea, if staying in the Canary Islands, is to try to get a low cost flight to Tenerife airport, where many low cost carriers fly to now. If you’re planning on the most relaxed holidays possible, there’s no choice: go to Cape Verde.