Azores, Pictures finally! Raining and cold

Posted on by Lea Ann Reynolds

We spent today in Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal. It’s very cold, wet and rainy today. We decided to take a short tour so that we could see a little of the island and determine if we want to come back and stay for a while in our future travels.

Jewelry made from Lava Rock
Pineapple Lamp

Although the island has some interesting and historical style, it’s probably not a whole lot we would like to do here but others may still be interested in where we visited.

We stopped at the pineapple plantation first. They grow the pineapple here but do not export it as it is too expensive, so they use it mostly for government subsidy. 

 

Watch bands and billfolds made from cork

It takes 1 ½ to 2 years to grow a pineapple. They are grown completely indoors in green houses. The climate is not tropical enough to grow them outdoors. 

Scarves are popular here

The weather doesn’t get hot enough here. They say it’s not too hot and not too cold.

Rows of pineapple in the growing phase

We prefer a little hotter! The pineapples are truly organic. No pesticides are used.

Liquors and spices made from pineapple

They use the pineapple to make alcohol, other drinks and in its raw form to eat.

Beautiful lush Greenland
Beautiful manicured parks
McDonald’s!
Dairy Cows in the fields
Businesses and houses were built in rows. Very colorful.
It goes through 7 phases of development. Bulbs, shoots, final, smoking, ripening, growth, cutting. Each greenhouse represented a different stage.



On our drive to the other side of the island of San Miguel, we passed a McDonald’s, Subway and a Burger King.Some American names we recognized. 

During our drive, we learned there are 131,000 people on San Miguel island, and it was discovered in the 15th century. This is considered a volcanic country in which one of the volcanoes is active. The #1 economic growth is dairy, so we saw dairy cows everywhere in the mountains.

Oldest Church in Sao Miguel, Igreja Matriz Ribeira Grande

Secondary is tourism and 3rd is fishing. There are daily earthquakes.

Part of the town square


Some can be felt but most are very mild and unless you know what you are experiencing it’s not noticed. The last destructive earthquake was in 1998.

Water coming down from mountains into a river
Streets are narrow and long

This part of the island is 100% catholic. Very religious. The churches are Baroque style. White with black trim. All the beaches are black from the volcanic soil.


Geothermal energy, the islands largest source of clean energy, is produced from the volcano since it is active. You can see steam coming from the factories and pipes that move the steam.

Another older church
The steam from the volcanoes was transported to the city with these pipes
Fire Lake inside the volcano

There is a park that one can go to dip into the baths and apparently provides healing. A secondary source is wind turbines.

Japanese cedar trees were imported from Japan and provide their sources for furniture building and construction. They are very tall and straight. Beautiful too.

We drove to view “Fire Lake” however the rain and overcast was so dense we didn’t see much. From photos I’ve seen, its beautiful. 

View of the lush green fields leading to the top of volcanic mountain
Overlooking city leaving the mountain

This lake, inside the volcano is the cleanest water. There is no physical access to the lake. It is also about 950 meters above sea level.
 
Hydrangeas and bird of paradise are popular plants on the island. The climate affords for such beauty. The hydrangeas bloom in June/July.

Sao Miguel City

We were a little early. Many trees looked dormant and not blooming during this time. 

Japanese Cedar Trees
Beautiful fountain at front of city with bird of paradise all around

New Zealand Christmas trees were imported from New Zealand and they bloom beautiful red flowers at Christmas time. That should be a wonderful sight to see.

Back at the ship, I took a nap. The time change is still bothering me.

Center of City – Catholic School

We noticed the seas are getting a little rougher so “barf bags” were all along the stairways. Tonight the ship is really rough.

Beautiful flowers all around the island
Even found some Calla Lillie’s
Champagne (that we gave back) from the head waiter
We are very lucky in that respect and don’t get sick as easily as others. So happy for that!

The next two days we’ll be at sea. We have formal night tomorrow, so we’ll dress up in our monkey suits and go to dinner. Only because they are serving lobster!! We went to dinner one night in the main dining room. We just aren’t much into dressing up.

A few days ago, the head waiter called and asked why we weren’t coming back, and we just told him the dinners take too long (up to 2 hours) and we aren’t too excited about the menu either. The next day we received a bottle of champagne in the cabin with two glasses. Guess who sent it? The head waiter! We will go tomorrow night and take the champagne with us. Hopefully others on the table will drink it. We aren’t into champagne. Sparkling wine maybe but not champagne. It was a very nice gesture though.

We are headed through the Gibraltar strait. Each time we go through, it’s midnight. I’m hoping they go through it once during the day but I doubt it. 

Be safe. May God bless you always!

Chuck & Lea Ann






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