Today was 2nd day of three transit days in a row to get from Loango to Príncipe. We had a flight from Libreville to São Tomé at 3pm, which gave us the morning to run errands and repack for the next part of the trip. On the past few trips we've used the hotel in our hub city (in this case Libreville) to store left luggage with items we need for only some legs of a longer trip.
First was more francs. Our hotel suggested we try the ATM at the next door hotel (Le Meridien) and sure enough our cards worked there. That was very convenient. Next was onto the grocery store just down the street for some toiletries. We ended up also buying a fresh baguette, prosciutto and babybel to make sandwiches for lunch.
Back at the hotel I posted my pics (we had been without Internet access while at Loango).
We were ready to go by 12:30pm, so we checked out. We were planning to have a coffee at the hotel but our driver was already there so we figured we'd just grab one at the airport.
However we ran into the same AfriJet terminal problem, they wouldn't let us in until 90 minutes prior to the flight. So we waited outside in the heat again. We had an international flight today, which I thought would mean a different path through the terminal, but it was just an official at a desk between baggage check and security.
It's only a 45 minute flight from Libreville to São Tomé, with an time zone change, so in theory we'd arrive before we took off. It was cloudy and hazy so I wouldn't be able to get pictures from the airplane, although I think it's the approach to Príncipe that is more photogenic.
For some reason the pilot circled a couple times around the airport at São Tomé, including a flyover. Maybe they were doing a visual inspection of the runway as a training exercise. Whatever. But it did mean that our flight took just over an hour.
In São Tomé we made sure to walk quickly on the tarmac to get to immigration ahead of the rest of the plane. We filled out an arrival form (almost every country we've been to recently has done away with these, with the exception of getting back home to Canada), and then onto immigration. There were no issues with our evisa, we paid our 20 Euro each and got a couple stamps in our passport. They also gave us back the printed evisa with a stamp. Maybe we'll need this to exit? I guess we'll find out.
The luggage was just starting to come out on the conveyor belt as we entered the room, ours was one of the first pieces. We had just enough time to get a cart and grab our bags before they disappeared for to start another turn around the belt.
And we were through! Got a taxi to São Pedro Guesthouse, checked in, and relaxed in our room for a bit, just to cool down. It was New Year's Eve and sometimes restaurants have specials which we wanted to avoid. Asked the guesthouse for recommendations, and then walked into town around 6pm. It was a full moon and a clear sky. The town itself is very approachable with a lot of character. There's all sorts of cafes and restaurants in old colonial buildings with tall ceilings. We have a few days in São Tomé after we return from Príncipe so lots of time to explore.
We walked about two km along the bayside road to Sabor do Îla in Parque Popular. Their specialty is grilled fish, so that's what we had. They were out of local beer so I had a Sagrès, Heather had a 50cl of vino tinto. Dinner was excellent, we were glad we went out. We even had an espresso even with the late hour, just to try the São Pedro coffee beans. It was really good.
Walked back before too many fire crackers started going off in the street. We were asleep by 10pm to be rested for our early morning departure to Príncipe. We were woken up by the New Year's Eve revellers just before midnight and heard the countdown in Portugese.
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