So today was a road trip to the north west in our rented Suzuki Jimny, a compact 4x4. First we stopped at a gas station to fill up (gas was about a dollar a litre, it cost us about $30 CAD to fill up). Then we were on the road, an offlined Google map as the navigator. The road was paved although a bit pot-holed. First stop was Praia das Conchas, to look for shells. The turn-off was onto a dirt road, which the Jimny handled pretty well. There were a couple beaches with fishermen, and Google maps said Praia das Conchas was further on, so we continued down the dirt road. We reached a nice beach where some other tourists were snorkelling. However there were no shells - they should have called the beach Praia sem Conchas. On the way back we stopped at one of the other beaches and saw plenty of shells. Maybe tourists had picked the other one clean.
We continued along the paved road, now beside the ocean. There was no guardrail or shoulder or anything - just a drop off into the ocean about 20' below.
Next up was Praia Azul. We drove half way down the dirt road and then parked, and walked the rest. However a guy in a vest asked us to move our car closer to the beach so that he could keep an eye on it. We had read In our four-year-old guide book that São Tomé was deploying people to watch cars at beaches, so it must be in place now. We had seem similarly attired people at Praia das Conchas but didn't realize who they were.
Our car now safe, we walked up a small hill for a great view of the blue waters.
Our last of the day was Neves, about 30km from São Tomé (it's a small island). The harbour at Neves is where the oil supply ships come in, and we could see the equipment as we approached. We also passed by the Rosema brewery where Nacional is produced.
We missed the small sign for Santola, which is a restaurant famous for its crabs and our destination for today's road trip (I didn't have the volume up on Google Maps). The restaurant is down a very narrow dirt road through Neves. Chickens and piglets ran about and I had to be careful not to run over them. About 200m down the dirt road was Santola, with a small parking lot (at least, a dirt lot) where we parked our little Jimny.
Grabbed a table upstairs as per he good book (Bradt Guide). There were a couple other tourists already having lunch, some with guides some without. We ordered crabs, and a beer.
Our place setting consisted of a plate, and a small wooden mallet and board. The crabs arrived (three crabs, about 1kg each) and some toasted garlic bread. The crab was pretty good, although we have had better. I was still a bit hungry so ordered a 4th crab. Then the waitstaff guy showed us how to eat some more of the crab body. He took off the top shell and used it as a small bowl to mix up the crab body, lime, and some beer. The resulting pâté-like mixture is then spread on the garlic toast. It wasn't to our liking so we just stuck to the legs and claws.
Washed up and then headed back on the road to our guesthouse in São Tomé. It was mid-afternoon so we had some time to relax before heading out for dinner. Today we tried 5 Sentidos. Our guesthouse arranged for a driver there and back. It was another place off a small residential street. 5 Sentidos had a pretty cool vibe, with tables made from old skids, cool music and a fusion take on food. We loved the atmosphere although preferred the traditional grilled fish we've had the past couple nights. Still, it was nice to try out for a night.
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