São Vicente - looking for remains of the past

This being a kind of down-the-memory-lane trip, I was of course anxious to see the places I remembered from my childhood – and I was somewhat fearful that, since I was not yet 9 when I left, I wouldn’t recognize any of them. I was actually surprised how accurate my memories were. My old school was no more, a new building is in its place. But the Pracinha with its bandstand, the palace with its spiral staircase and the terrace, the eagle by the harbor, the Leão’s drugstore, were exactly as I remembered them (curiously, I had no memory whatsoever of the Belém tower replica).

I felt especially thrilled when I found the places where we used to live. The old army officers’ mess is now a university, our old apartments became classrooms, and the dining room – where I spent so many hours looking at a reproduction of Brueghel’s Peasant Wedding – and the living room now auditoriums. But the building is the same, even if now surrounded by villas of doubtful taste, where once were bare hills where we used to play. And the old three cannons were still there, one of them turned sideways to make room for a sculpture representing Baltasar Lopes’ books.
And our old house was still standing! Recently renovated, it was much uglier than it used to be, but they kept the inside plan, the cleaning woman was there and let us in, and how strange it was to see again the old verandah/living room, our bedrooms, the back yard and the front garden, I could picture our dear German Shepard there, the bed where I used to read, the kitchen where once lobsters jumped out of boiling water, the place where once a cockroach crawled inside my sandal scaring the living daylights out of me…

My mother and sister were lavishly received at the high school where they had been teacher and student. The teachers were extremely nice and deferential towards my mother, and the students were lively and funny. The name changed, but the building is the same.

We rented a car to go to Baía das Gatas, the beach where we used to go on weekends. The road is new and fairly good; leaving Mindelo was not that easy, due to a lack of road signs, and we were somewhat shocked by the poverty of the city outskirts, contrasting with the relative prosperity of the centre. We stopped at Salamansa – the beach still wild and beautiful, the village still very poor, although we didn’t see goats with a tin can on their necks as there used to be.

Baía das Gatas was a huge disappointment. What used to be a vibrant beach is now a deserted and forlorn place, not only it seems much smaller but also mostly abandoned and neglected – I guess that’s because there is now the beautiful Lajinha beach in Mindelo, so people don’t have to go to Baía das Gatas as they used to when it was the nearest white sand and protected beach.

On the other hand, the drive to the São Pedro fishing village was lovely. The place is beautiful, the lighthouse we had seen from the plane upon landing is on a fantastic setting. Fishermen had just come from the sea, big tunas were unloaded, old women were repairing fishing nets, stray dogs were roaming the beach, teenagers were talking and cooling in the shade, cats dozed, a couple of children were helping their elders. And the sun was setting and the whole place was just beautiful.

Back to São Vicente, Cape Vert, after 45 years

For a long time, I had doubts about returning to Cape Vert, where I spent 2 years of my childhood. I had so many good memories about that tie, I feared they could be spoilt by seeing it again, so any years later; wouldn’t it be too different, wouldn’t my childhood memories be somewhat shattered? But then my sister talked me into going, and off we went, a family trip down the memory lane – my mother, sister and niece.

I’ glad we did it. We landed in S. Vicente airport (now named after Cesárea Évora), and the landscape of barren hills immediately felt familiar. As the sight of Mindelo harbor, and the Pracinha, where we stayed in a very nice hotel.
My first impressions of the city were how small it looked! The centre was so much tidier than before, and everything I remembered was in a short walking distance – my old school, the beach where Matiota used to be, the palace where I played as a child.

The centre of Mindelo is very well preserved, very clean - the bright colours of the houses and the old colonial architecture wonderfully kept. Everything we remembered – shops, cafés, the eagle statue, the palace, the Pracinha – was in walking distance, and I mean like a 5 minute walk.

There was a great exhibition of African art at the Palace, and there were a lot of tourist shops, but also genuine nice cafés. And the Leão drugstore was exactly the same as I remembered it. As was the Monte Cara, the same beautiful sight as always. The weather was unusually humid, so there was a mist stopping us from having a clear view of the Santo Antão mountains.

The food was, as expected, a wonderful experience. The first restaurant we went to was the Cocktail, where we had a buffet of hearty and tasty food, and later we tried several different restaurants, the Nautilus being the best, in my opinion. Tuna cooked in different ways, cachupa, cheese goat from Sto. Antão, cheese pudding – all delicious, as the white wine from Fogo.

The Burning Library, by Edmund White

I've read a few of Edmund White's novels, but I always liked much more his essays and memoirs - My Lives is excellent. Edmund White's essays are extremely interesting and sensible. I highly recommend this book.

Maria Accanto, by Matteo B. Bianchi

I discovered Matteo B. Bianchi through a friend who recommended me Generations of Love, his first novel. I read it in a Spanish translation, and loved it - a fresh, funny and insightful coming out novel, full of references to the 1980s I also lived in and could relate so much to his writing and impressions. I wanted to read more of his work, so when his novel Maria Accanto came out, I waited for a translation, but it was taking too long, so I decided to read it in Italian.

Italian is a Latin language, I am Portuguese and know French, so it seemed a doable project. And it was, I had to use the dictionary lots of times at first, since I lacked the basic vocabulary and there were a lot of "false friends" words, but I managed to understand it pretty well and enjoy the reading. It was worth it, the book is very good, it reminded me of a Woody Allen movie - an out-of-worldly experience by a common girl, that makes her think and grow. All in a casual and funny tone and an optimistic mood, you feel happy upon reading it.

I'd really wish Matteo's books to be translated to English to get them the audience they deserve.

Uppsala

I had been to Uppsala for a day trip before, 6 years ago, and had had a taste of the city; this time I could enjoyed it more leisurely. It’s a beautiful city, combining the historic feeling of an ancient capital with the modern bustle of a student city, since the university is the center of its life. I started by strolling along the river and relaxing at a nice café, before meeting my friends for a great Indian lunch, during which they gave me some invaluable tips about what to visit.

So I started with an incredibly good exhibition of old books and manuscripts at the Uppsala University Library, with some gems like Vesalius Anatomy, Newton’s Principia, Mercator’s maps, the Silver Bible, Persian, Jewish and many other beautiful books, even a letter by Marie Antoinette.

Then I visited the Trefaldighet church, with its beautiful wall paintings and altar piece, and then the Gustavianum Museum. It houses a small but excellent Egyptian collection, the curious and interesting Augsburg cabinets, a great collection of scientific instruments that look like works of art, and the recreation of the 17th century anatomical theater – not as beautiful as the one in Bologna but still remarkable.

Uppsala cathedral is an impressive building, both on the outside and the inside. Beautifully decorated, with many royal tombs and a small but great museum in the tower – medieval textiles, royal regalia from the tombs and the clothes of three nobles killed in the 16th century – interesting to see how small they were – people really got taller with the modern diet and health.

The Botanical Gardens are a good place to relax, the arboretum is great and the plants all labeled. From the castle one has great views over the city, and the Linneus Garden is also beautiful and informative. It was nice walking around town with a friend who explained about the Nations – the students’ places according to their origin – and several interesting anecdotes about the city.

I finished my visit to Uppsala in Gamla Uppsala, the seat of the old Viking capital. The burial mounds are still impressive, and the church – the former cathedral – beautiful. And it’s nice to have a feeling of a village just by the city.

I really enjoyed this trip to Sweden – resting, sightseeing and meeting friends, the perfect holidays.