so many years have gone by, finalmente one more off her bucket list.
Summary of the highlights:
• Comfort at the Star Inn just across from the Lisbon airport
Called them once arrived at the airport, and the hotel shuttle came to pick me up in less than 5 mins.
Boutique type rooms, window showed top of trees. no airplanes noise.
Walked across
the street to the Melia
for the included 1/2 hr massage. There's a banho turco (steamroom) and of course
the Hippo made ample use of it.
Afterwards, returned to the Star Inn
and made tea with the provided bottled water, tea bag and kettle, and relaxed in the
front patio. Good choice of hotel.
The following morning, while waiting for the hotel shuttle to the airport, striked
a conversation with a woman in Português.
• Flight cancelled , airport chaos and Masa hotel in Campo Grande
After a 4, then a 2 hours delay,
the flight to Ponta Delgada was cancelled. Amidst absolute chaos, rebooked for the next day flight.
Spent all day in the airport eating bolinhas the bacalhau. Visited every store and
food place at least twice. Never want to see this airport again.
Frentic look for a hotel for the night.
At lost and found ran into this German guy who told me to book at Masa and shared uber with me. Masa was a new 4* hotel and of course Campo Grande is a very good central area. The room was boutique but everything looks new and the view was right on the avenue. Perfect!
• Sete Cidades
So today was supposed to be the visit to Sete Cidades but the entire group missed a day but I've arrived at Ponta Delgada around noon.
Asked Melo, the local agent, to arrange a driver to take me to Sete Cidades. Melo kind enough to do this
free since I've missed a day. The driver was young, friendly and quite knowledgeable. Found out we shared the same family name.
So after all that searching and deciding, I've almost missed the highlight of São Miguel. Finally happy
to visit this place and no disappointment. Even foggy, the view of the Lagoas Azul and Verde still spectacular.
Also visited the Sete Cidades village and walked around the lake a bit, and drove through the west coast with awesome views of the ocean and the colorful coastal
villages. Just couldnt be any luckier.
• Azoris Garden Hotel
Spacious with a large balcony facing the inner garden. Would have liked it even more
if the room faced the outside as I love to see the local houses, hills and ocean, but the view was good
enough. Needless to say, Snowie and I had a great relaxing time on the balcony.
• Lost luggage, Considered myself lucky
The rest of the group lost their luggage. Their flight
actually took off from Lisbon and approaching Ponta Delgada airport but it wasnt allowed to land, so
the plane returned to lisbon. When my flight was cancelled, I've asked about my checked
luggage. They kept saying it would be forwarded to the new flight. I didnt trust them so I went to
Lost and Found and demanded my luggage. It was a wise move as 1. I didnt lose my luggage, 2. ran into this guy
who helped me find a hotel room for the night and shared uber.
I've thought I was unlucky to fly to the Azores
just when the freakish storm of the century with strong wind and rain hit the area, which was the reason of all the
cancelled flights. But this guy I've met at the Lost and Found, was actually there for the 2nd day. He was due
to fly out on the day before but the flight was cancelled. And it happened
to him again on the 2nd day. And the group lost their luggage. So i guess I should considered myself lucky
• Furnas
it's like a mini yellowstone Jorge said. Eh pardon me, but Furnas was more like a micro micro
yellowstone.
A few geysers, thermal water from local taps. The cozido was good but not great. The meat and cabbage
were very tender and the fish soup was superb but we had it inside a restaurant, not outdoors, and never
saw the meat being lifted out of the ground, like in a hawaiian luau or at wadi rum in the jordanian desert.
Then to Terra Nostra, a big tanque with orange thermal water. Swimming? No thanks. Covid and all and all that
orange stain. Just put in my hand to sample the water temperature. Lukewarm. But did managed to find the
zoomorphic sculptures. Interesting but not great.
• Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo
Looking from above, this circular island with an inner bay was spectacular. But viewing from 1km across the water,
it just looked like a big rock with a smaller one next to it. I'd have loved to have walked through the vila to admire the
beautiful houses.
• São Jorge cheese and traditional house
The cheese and sausage starter platter in the included dinner at La Cantina on the Marina of Ponta Delgada had São Jorge cheese.
Heaven! Told Jorge about Tasca Tasca and of course he'd never heard of it nor the owner/chef.
Jorge's family home
was a traditional house, a few blocks from the marina. When he went home to retrieve my camera (i had left
it on the bus), I went with him. So I got a glimpse of the inside of a São Miguel traditional home. Small
entry room that opened to a back yard, staircase to the upper rooms. Looked very old but full of European
flavor at every corner. Quite an experience.
• Sata flight to Terceira
Was very worried about Sata Azores airline but the plane looked new and the short flight was comfortable
and no incident with luggage. Lucky?
•Terceira
One big caldeira and the cities were just called Praia since it has a beach, and Angra since it's a cove,
until D. Maria I gave them more heroic names and they became Praia da Vitória and Angra do Heroísmo.
Our local guide was from Porto. He's excellent. Up on the Miradouro da Serra do Cume, we admired the
enormous caldeira
with habitation and plantation all the way up the sides. Vast impressive views.
Our guide illustrated the Azores triple junction on the Mid-Atlantic ridge, with Corvo and Flores at the North American tectonic plate (they are inching towards the North American continent away from the archipelago),
Terceira, São Jorge, Pico, Faial, Graciosa and São Miguel on the North African plate and Santa Maria on
the Eurasian plate. And he even drew the fault lines across each group of the islands. The Hippo's learned much
from him.
• Azoris Angra Garden hotel room fiasco and good decision
The hotel was located at the Praça Velha, on the left steep street of the Paços de Conselho. Location ideal with
all the shops and restaurants, near the Sé Catedral, with the Jardim Duque de Terceira behind the hotel. However my room
faced the steep street and right across from the hotel spa on the second floor. No privacy and very noisy.
When asked for another room, they've found me one that faced the garden but smelled of mildew. But on the 2nd day, after a full day of site seeing, I went
to the front desk and asked again, thinking my chances were slim, but they did find me a room with a balcony
facing the garden. Very quiet at night with the only the chirping of the birds. So lucked out again.
With all the included 3 course lunches, dinner had to be light. Some of us ate at the hotel bar which
had daily soup and light meals. I had cauliflower on 1 night and leek soup on the other, and both nights
I just had french fries and shared it with the group. The hotel also had a wonderful terrace with clear views
of the city.
At the front desk, the guy said my name was very português and the girl
said Mas ela não fala português. hehe
Lunch was at a beautiful private house by the ocean with excellent views of the Ilhéus das Cabras, and comfy lounge chairs. Perfect relaxing location for a meal.
• Portugal day - Heróis do Mar
morning saw all the military branches out in formation and in standing attention. it turned out
it was Portugal day and each year they pick one island to do the honors. This year it was Terceira.
when the band played the portuguese national anthem and everybody, the islands and mainland representatives and
troops started to sing heróis do mar, tears rolled down my face. I just couldnt believe it. Had I chosen
São Jorge instead, i would have missed this.
• Great museu great history
Perhaps one of the best museums I've been. Great historical pieces and a beautiful church with an enormous organ,
portuguese azulajos on the walls and every column in pastel colors. gorgeous chandelier.
The included lunch was at the Beira Mar with fantastic views of the ocean, the city's walls
and the fish soup came in a round bread bowl with a bread top.
There's a statue of Vasco da Gama
in front of the igreja da misericórdia on the marina
• Angra great decision
so much time spent on finding and deciding between Terceira and São jorge. and the final
decision was the correct one. had I skip Terceira, I would have missed Portugal Day and all the azorean
history. And i did get to eat São Jorge cheese in Ponta Delgada after all.
• Sata flight to pico
another uneventful flight. this time the plane was not so new but since i got the window seat I've
got see the pico island approaching and the volcano from the plane. again, no lost luggage and no hassle
checking in.
• Highest point in Portugal / sperm whales
it threw us off a bit since we went to the whale cruise immediately after arrival at pico. it proved to be a wise
choice for the day was fine and water not too choppy. had we stuck to the itinerary and gone in the following
day, we'd have to skip the cruise as the day was rainy and cold and windy. We saw dolphins
swimming in and jumping from the water and a
couple of sperm whales. never knew they looked so cute with their enormous, eh, noses?
They called it a zodiac
but it was really a small boat with 2 rows of seats along the length of the vessel and we had to straddle the seat
with a handle bar in front. not comfortable but OK. it actually made standing up to take photos a lot easier.
but my hips were tired after the cruise. good views of the island coast.
while driving along the south coast to get to Lajes for the cruise,
we got to see the volcano clear of clouds. Very lucky indeed.
for dinner, our local guide suggested ancoradouro which was about a 15 mins walk from the hotel.
We sampled limpets that came with a very garlicky butter sauce and I absolutely loved it.
• Hotel room lucky - Hotel Caravelas and black black lava
the only suitable hotel in town? my room had a small but adequate balcony with 2 plastic chairs and a table.
the view directly in front was the row of other rooms/balconies but the side view was of the harbor. so not too bad. Snowie
liked the view.
the 2nd day, it rained hard. the balcony and furniture were wet so I put snowie on a towel.
We walked through Cachorro and Lajido villages in the rain, all around was black basalt lava formations and houses built with lava rocks.
visited the Centro de Interpretação da Paisagem da Cultura da Vinha da Ilha do Pico, and
the Volcano House with a video showcasing each island's wonders and a video
of how an island gets created
from under water volcano. the video was shown inside a dome. and an earthquake simulation platform.
Drove through São Roque and stopped in front
of the Museu da Indústria Baleeira (Whaling Industry Museum) (not open as it was Monday).
We had a buffet lunch that had bacalhau. first I've seen in Azores. someone mentioned whisky, so we were
offered the local flavor. not bad as it wasnt too strong.
Unforgetable morning rain in Madalena, quite a village with the ferry harbor,
the simple but elegant Igreja de Santa Maria Madalena, and the Vinha de Criação Velha by the ocean. I like this village.
• Pico my favorite island? black lava basalt everywhere, rainy day, volcanoes house great video, limpets so i had to pick Pico.
• Awesome morning ferry to Horta - maybe on my best ferry list
Found us some seats on the back of the boat. the half hour ride was filled with great views, first of pico
with the igreja de santa madalena across from the harbor, and the pico volcano shrouded in clouds, then the
rocks
Ilhéus Deitado e Em Pé, and finally of the colorful Horta city.
• Horta Beautiful
Angra was fantastic but a bit too metropolitan. Horta is smaller, quieter, with older monuments and
buildings and a long promenade that
offered great views of the ocean and the marina that
we've enjoyed walking. It has a slower pace and a real island feeling. Good lunch at the Genuíno restaurant at the Praia do Porto Pim whose owner Genuíno Madruga sailed around the world, and his restaurant was filled with his maps, photos and artifacts of all the locales he's navigated to, and memories of 'navegador solitário Genuíno Madruga recolheu em suas viagens à volta do mundo"
• Lucky room location - Hotel to Canal
A room facing the Igreja da Nossa Senhora das Angústias square and very tiny balcony. i could just barely
stand on it. but nonetheless better than the rooms that faced the inner gloomy rundown inner court. One more luck?
• Capelinhos wonder, Centro de Interpretação Fantastic
An underwater volcano that created a landmass that connected to the island and is disappearing. how magical is that?
Went up to the top of the farol and the caldeira was something to admire. looked exactly like a giant eating bowl.
the centro de Interpretação was most impressive. high tech displays, a video, showcase of each island
particular lava rock, i couldnt get enough of this place.
• Bad day for caldeira
The caldeira do Cabeço Gordo was covered in freezing fog. Claudia said it's not cold, just fresh and she
was wearing shorts with a sweatshirt.
suddenly the fog parted a bit and allowed the sun to show a bit
of the caldeira and I snapped a few photos before the fog took over again. it would have been awesome
to see this caldeira on a clear day. by chance found prego at a cafe near the hotel while looking for a light dinner. I just couldnt believe it. Such memories!
• Great included lunches and some great dinners
São Miguel: cozido lunch at Furnas with fish soup
São Jorge cheese and chouriço platter, white fish and cake for dessert at La Cantina in Ponta Delgada
- Terceira: cheese platter, beef and potato, pudding desert at the private home across from the
Ilhéus das Cabras
Angra - fish soup in a bread bowl and white fish at the Beira Mar with wonderful views of the ocean and city walls
- Pico: limpets in butter garlic sauce dinner at AncoraDoura in Madalena
Bacalhau in a lunch buffet with rain pouring outside
- Faial: Horta - Beef risoto lunch at Genuíno Restaurant by the Praia to Porto Pim
Beef and fish lunch along the way to Caldeira
Prego light dinner in a coffee shop near the hotel
• back to Sheraton CDG
The Sata flight back to Lisbon was another OK one but plane a bit old and dirty but I did get a free snack. Back
in lisbon airport, no surprises, the flight to cdg was delayed but i got to use the lounge this time which was
just OK but at least a bit of rest away from the noisy busy crowded Lisbon airport terminal.
so didnt get to the Sheraton until after 11. Room was of course spacious, bathroom gorgeous and comfortable with view of the
runways. Even took a bath and soaked in the bubbly water for a bit. Really enjoyed this hotel. Expensive but worth it for the luxury and
the proximity to the gates.
I love Açores. Best island? Pico. Best city? Horta has a slight edge over Angra but Angra has to
be my city always. Best meal? the dinner at La Cantina in Ponta Delgada, the Starter platter of São Jorge cheese and chouriço white fish entree and
cake for dessert. Although the Cozido and fish soup at Furnas were good too.
This trip was one of
the very best. Not too expensive, the hotels were 4*, all lunches were very good. and oh so many memories of the old days in Portugal.
a dream come true truly. special affinity to this place. return and cover São Jorge and Flores? perhaps not.
