20241218 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 23/96 - São Tomé and Príncipe

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 23/96 -São Tomé and Príncipe - An island nation with strange dances

It's another new country for us today, São Tomé and Príncipe. It is an island nation off the west coast of Africa, right on the equator. Our port, the city of São Tomé, is about 25 miles north of the equator, so for the day, we will remain in the northern hemisphere.

Tenders were in the water early

The seas were a little rough, making for tender movement of several feet up and down making loading challenging, especially for the multiple mobility-challenged people on this cruise

Local fishermen looked on with interest

We loaded onto tenders based on our assigned tours and made the 20-minute ride into port.

The Sojourn, holding at anchor

São Sebastião Museum - a former fort - we visited it on our tour

The local navy

We arrived and boarded our tour bus for our 3.5-hour São Tomé Highlights tour.

They carry things on heads here too

Several street vendors were out on corners

Our first stop was the São Sebastião Museum. This 16th-century structure was originally a fort used to protect the city. Outside the fort, we found an obelisk and the following statues:

• Pedro Escobar: To the left of the entrance, representing a Portuguese discoverer
• João de Santarém: To the right of the entrance, representing a Portuguese discoverer
• João de Paiva: A smaller statue in the middle, representing the first governor of São Tomé

We toured the interior museum featuring many artifacts dating to the Portuguese control of the area and its strong Christian history.

Original porcelain dishes

The inlay on this chest was stunning

The national flag

There was a lighthouse on the upper level of the fort

Either the Portuguese were tall or they had boxes to stand on as the window was over Arlona's head

Some odd Greek-looking artifacts

A display recognizing the cocoa and coffee plantation history of the area

The last Portuguese flag that flew here

And the first São Tomé and Príncipe flag that flew here

The country crest with the hawk representing São Tomé and the parrot representing Príncipe

Our next stop was to watch a dance group perform a folkloric dance.

Children were begging for dollars at every stop - adults were as well

Unlike our last folkloric performance in Ghana where the dances were high-energy and well-choreographed, these seemed quite random and odd

Our next stop was at the Our Lady of Grace Cathedral. It is right across the street from the Presidential Palace. You aren't supposed to take photos of it, but somehow these wound up in my phone...

Our Lady of Grace Cathedral

We drove off for our next stop.

Supremo Tribunal de Justiça - the city courthouse

Independence Square

We watched another confusing dance performance.

Street art

Taxis are yellow and are group taxis - almost like tiny buses - they pick up riders along a route

We made a brief stop at a local market

The people were not welcoming like the Ghanaian people a couple of days ago - the difference was readily apparent

Many of the women working these stands were adamant about their desire to not be photographed, which I of course respected

After a short visit, we went to a small shop for local snacks.

Our final stop was a brief photo stop at the I Love STP sign.

Back at port, we walked to the tender for the ride back to Sojourn.

Arriving back at Sojourn

We ate lunch and then sat on the balcony, watching rain in the highlands on the island

We met friends in the Observation Bar and joined them for dinner at Earth and Ocean. While dining, we passed over the equator at roughly 8:15 PM local time (UTC+0). 

After dinner, Arlona was worn out and called it a night. I went to the show featuring Comedian Tony Daro. He was entertaining.

We will be at sea for two days as we sail toward Angola. To prepare for that, tonight we moved an hour to forward UTC+1 or six hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast. Good thing we can sleep in tomorrow.