Rabil

Rabil sits beside Boa Vista's airport in the valley of the island's only significant watercourse, which is dry most of the year but holds enough moisture for palms. The village keeps a pottery workshop, the Escola de Olaria, where clay is worked by hand without a wheel and fired in the old way, a technique that had almost died out on the island and was revived deliberately. A church of 1801 stands above the village.

What you actually see

• The pottery workshop - hand-built ceramics made without a wheel and fired traditionally.
• The revived technique - a craft deliberately brought back after nearly dying out.
• The 1801 church - the old church above the village.
• The palm valley - the watercourse that supports vegetation in a dry island.

When to go

November to June is the dry season. The workshop keeps irregular hours and a call ahead helps. Aircraft noise is constant given the airport next door.

Honest expectations

The workshop is small and opening is unreliable. The village itself has little else. Airport traffic passes directly overhead.

Nearby

Sal Rei is northwest, and Praia de Chaves is west.