Fortaleza de Sao Miguel de Luanda

On Saturday, we went to the "Forteleza de Sao Miguel."  In Luanda, there are only a handful of "tourist sites" to visit, and this is one of them.  It was built by the Portuguese in 1576.  In the 1600s it was a major port used for slave traffic to Brazil.  As Wikepedia says, "The fort was for many years a self-contained town protected by thick walls encrusted with cannons.  Inside the fort, elaborate ceramic tiles tell the story of Angola from early years, and in the courtyard are large imposing statues of Portugal's first king, the first European to reach Angola, Diogo Cao, renowned explorer Vasco da Gama, and other notables.  Until 1975, the fortress serves as the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese Armed Force in Angola.  Today, it holds the Museum of the Armed Forces."

We loved all of the views of Luanda:

Thomas confiscated my sunglasses.  It was a very hot, humid and bright day (nothing out of the ordinary here) so I decided that it was worth giving up my glasses so I didn't have to hear too much whining from the kids.  The glasses got passed around and Rhea got carried by me at one point because she was so tired from the heat.  Bri was off taking pictures.  We had some role reversals going on.  :)

I love this picture because it captures the fort, built in the 1500's, with new construction cranes behind, working on the high rises that are so popular all over Luanda today:

Kids having fun getting their heads squeezed:

     

Cooling off in the air conditioned lobby of the Armed Forces Museum
that we had to ourselves.  As we relaxed, we practiced some Portuguese
and dreamed of being somewhere cold for our next post.  :)

 

Using Thomas' sweat to spike up his hair.  We all could have done that to our hair with the amount we were sweating!