AND WE'RE OFF ON ANOTHER AMAZING ADVENTURE!

   

     The Azores Islands are considered Portugal's best-kept secret. These nine volcanic islands creating the Azores archipelago are located in the Atlantic Ocean, 901 miles west of Lisbon, Portugal and 2,391 miles east of Boston, Massachusetts. The Azores are remote. They are pretty much smack dab in the middle of nowhere. So, why explore the Azores? Simply put, we are up for another adventure. We are looking forward to exploring these remote, subtropical and stunningly beautiful islands over the next 4 weeks. First stop, the town of Ponta Delgada on the Azores Island of Sao Miguel. 

Sao Miguel Island, Azores

September 24 ~ September 30, 2019

       Today we traveled nearly 5,000 miles. A mere 14 hours and 7 time zones later, we landed on the tropical paradise of the Azores' largest island, Sao Miguel. 

    Our destination today is Ponta Delgada, the largest city in Sao Miguel. Ponta Delgada is also the capital city of the Azores. 

     Ponta Delgada has a population of about 65,000. Every spring and summer and even once or twice in September, the cruise lines dock their 4,000 passenger cruise ships at Ponta Delgada's pier. Often these passengers descend upon the city at the same time. We were told that once this summer a total of 4  cruise ships docked on the same day! That's an estimated additional 16,000 people of all nationalities walking the streets of Ponta Delgada at the same time! 
     As luck would have it, one cruise ship was docked when we arrived. We were impressed with the number of tourists flooding the streets! It was like an international convention.
   As we walked down the pier we noticed the banners proudly proclaiming:

"The World goes through here" and they are correct for, in many ways, it does. 
     Even the early explorers sailing on their way to the Americas would stop at Ponta Delgada, San Miguel Island, to resupply their provisions. Now, centuries later, the cruise ships also make this stop at Ponta Delgada onto their final destination. But for many of these modern-day cruisers, provisions might include shopping for souvenirs. Punta Delgada has ubiquitous gift shops on the pier and on nearly every corner of the city to accommodate one's provisioning needs.

 Ponta Delgada also touts excellent restaurants and cafes for the hungry traveler.

 Many fine dining restaurants are located very close to the pier. 

There are numerous informal neighborhood dining restaurants.

 



Ponta Delgada also has lovely alleyway cafes 

along with yummy ice cream shops.

They even have a McDonalds!

 And for those passengers who desire taking photos of historical "points of interest", there are way too many to capture in the brief amount of time they have allotted,  for in the late afternoon, off they return to their ship to sail away. That's exactly what happened to our cruise ship tourists. By the time we checked into our lovely hotel, showered and took a quick nap, it was time to eat. The streets were quiet and Ponta Delgada actually looked abandoned as we saw that cruise ship literally sail away into the sunset.

   Throughout our 4 days here we took full advantage of the lack of tourists, explored the city and drove away from the city to hike into sparsely crowded astoundingly beautiful spots!
    We had glorious weather on Sao Miguel. We enjoyed visiting the historical sites so close to our hotel. 
     Two historical spots are what Ponta Delgada is perhaps the best known for: its striking 3 arched city gates named the "Portals da Cidade":

and the 16th-century gothic style church of San Sebastian with its iconic clock tower which keeps watch over the Portals da Cidade.

The clock tower is the only one in Ponta Delgada and it can be seen for quite a way out at sea!

It is especially lovely at night, for its illuminated bells are striking to see.

This "current" San Sebastian church dates back to 1533 when it was constructed on the former site of an older, much smaller San Sebastian chapel.  

Today's San Sebastian's facade is elaborate.

Its interior is known for its intricate wooden carvings.

   




Not too far away is the elegant 17th-century municipal council building. In 1499, Ponta Delgada was given the title of  "town" and in 1546 the Portuguese government proclaimed Ponta Delgada a "city".

  We have come to learn that one of the trademarks of a Portuguese town is that its streets and many sidewalks are lined with inlaid black and white pavers creating intricate patterns. Ponta Delgada is definitely a Portuguese city! By following the intricately inlaid sidewalk and street patterns, its as if the pedestrian is being led through town, down alleyways lined with cafes and throughout the busy streets.  

    

     

     We stayed at the lovely Hotel Talisman centrally located in the historic part of Ponta Delgada.

There was a beautiful park outside the hotel.

Our hotel's restaurant provided outdoor seating adjacent to the park.
 This location was perfect for us for we enjoyed strolling through the nearby historic area with its pastel-colored buildings.

We also enjoyed being at the hotel and feasting our eyes on the spectacular views.

Especially the sunsets by their rooftop pool!

  

"Cheers"! 

Or as they say in the Azores, 

"Beber Aplausos"!

However, as much as we enjoyed staying at Hotel Talisman, the greatest enjoyment we had each day was hiking out of the city in the spectacular natural splendor that this island has to offer.

Exploring the West Coast of San Miguel Island

    For 5 days we explored the spectacular natural beauty of Sao Miguel Island. 



  This island is rugged and wild and breathtakingly beautiful.

     These volcanic islands were created a mere 15,000 years ago, which is a blink of an eye in the great geological timeline. If measured from the bottom of their base on the ocean floor to top of their peaks, which thrust high above the surface of the Atlantic, the Azores are actually some of the tallest mountains on the planet!
     And so our 5 days exploring the unspoiled beauty of the natural wonders of this island included lakes, hot springs, waterfalls, and miradouros (overlooks)- all the things that the Azores do best! Here are just a few of the amazing hikes and views we were lucky enough to experience.

     On one especially beautiful day, we hiked from the lovely Lagona do Canario up to the  Boca do Inferno.

     Boca do Inferno is perhaps one of the, if not THE, most famous viewpoints in the Azores.
       We hiked to this stunning view of Boca do Inferno of Sete Cidades lakes within the caldera.

         In the foreground below is Lagoa Verde (Green Lake) and on the right is Lagoa Azul (Blue Lake). 



     So why do the lakes have two different colors? Legend has it a beautiful princess fell in love with a Shepherd boy. Her father, the king, was incensed and made her marry a prince from the neighboring larger kingdom. Before the wedding, the princess and the Shepherd boy met one last time, held each other and cried. The blue lake is filled with tears from the beautiful princess' blue eyes and the green lake is filled with the tears of the Sheppard boy's green eyes. 

We had a gorgeous day for our hikes.

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to hike up to the top of this volcanic cone and check out the view.

Beautiful hydrangea bushes were still in bloom and lined the trail for miles!

In other areas, the trail also had vegetation of huge ferns towering overhead. 

Now on the ridgeline, the views were remarkable!

The patchwork green fields were very reminiscent of the green fields we saw in Ireland this past May.

Great views from the top to the sea and the islands beyond!

Back down the trail.

It was a beautiful hike!

     One day we traveled to the lovely Lagoa Verde. We hiked along the trail which surrounds only half of the lake and ate our picnic lunch. Interestingly, two bicyclists rode by and parked their bikes beside a large tree near the water's edge. They took turns climbing the tree and hoisting the bicycle up to the treed person. 

Each one took photos of the other and then down came the bike and the rider and off they rode. I love Instagram photos.
      Hiking back, the fog rolled in, but the bucolic views of the cows grazing on the hillside were lovely to see.

So many of the pastures were divided by both stone walls and massive hedges of hydrangeas. One can see a few blossoms that are left on these hedges in the above photo. 

The hydrangea blossoms are quite large! 

Even though the season was over for hydrangeas, 



there are still many with their vibrant blue hues.

Speaking of hydrangeas, the Azores are known for this beautiful ubiquitous plant. On San Miguel, as we found true on the other Azores islands we visited, thousands of hydrangeas line the roadsides creating quite literally a sea of blue.


Below are some highway photos that are not mine, but do show what roads in San Miguel, and on each island of the Azores, look like from April until September when the hydrangeas are out in all their glory!

In addition, many hydrangea hedges line the trails and hillsides. On the majority of our hiking trails, many hydrangeas were still in bloom and were stunning!

Miradouro Santa Iria

Throughout our days hiking and traveling around the northwestern coast of Sao Miguel, we stopped at numerous miradors or viewpoints each one of which had stunning views! This one, in particular, had something special to offer in addition to the view.

Shouldn't every viewpoint have a hot dog stand ready and waiting for visitors?

Yet another beautiful day with which to enjoy the stunning vistas from one side to the other!

Gorreana Tea Factory

   On another day as we traveled the north coast of Sao Miguel, we ventured out to the Gorreana Tea Factory. It is the only tea plantation in Europe.

     While one might think that the European climate is too harsh for tea to truly be cultivated and prosper, one would be incorrect, for the Azorean climate is different and perfectly suited for growing excellent tea!

     The first plantation in the Azores was created by the Azorean Jacinto Leite in the 1820s. He imported tea seeds from Rio de Janeiro. About this time the orange economy had declined, however, knowledge of tea cultivation did not exist among the local farmers.

     What we found so fascinating was that the Gorreana Tea Factory was founded in 1883  by Ermelinda Gago da Camara and her son, 
Jose Honorato. After hiring two Chinese tea experts, one of whom was Lau Teng 

who taught the art of production, cultivated the plantations' tea plants and taught the preparation of tea, the tea plantation flourished. 
     The Gorreana Tea Factory is currently in its 6th generation of a family business.  

     There are 32 gorgeous acres. 

Rows and rows of tea bushes!

We walked around some of the lovely grounds.

    We also toured the inside where there were some interesting historic photos of the many female workers hand-picking tea leaves.


In addition, there are the actual machines they use to dry, process and produce the tea leaves and I have to admit, it actually was fascinating. 

 Currently, the plantation produces 40 tons of tea per year!
    The free tea we had inside the factory was delicious. 

We were so impressed that this exquisite tea could be grown on an island in the middle of the Atlantic.


 Each day as we drove and hiked the north side of the island we were in awe of the sprawling landscape and sea. 

 We explored the breathtakingly beautiful rugged coastline   Our hikes took us far and wide. From the wild rugged coast 

to the Farol da Ferraria lighthouse which was built in 1901 and became electrified in 1957.

From there we ventured down 

to Picco Das Camarinhas e Ponta Da    Ferraria, the lava arch.

Then we headed to the famed swimming "holes" of the Ferraria. 

Amazing, naturally warm swimming holes as the tide ebbs and flows.

   We really enjoyed our time on Sao Miguel exploring and hiking to spots so rich in spectacular volcanic scenery.