We’ve had a really good day today. We woke up to the view of the port of Ponta Delgada which is on the south coast of Sao Miguel, one of nine islands that make up the Azores.
Our first impression.......? These people have got OCD! That’s a bit mean, but this place is so different after the unkempt and disorderly Caribbean. Everything looked so neat and orderly and in place.
We were on a tour today, so this morning we followed our escort out to the bus where “Connie” our Portuguese tour guide met us. Lovely lady, very enthusiastic, loves flowers, English not brilliant, very cheerful and chatty. She did our heads in after a while. The tour bus took us first to a ceramics factory. It did seem to be a working factory, but maybe not a very busy one. Staff appeared in various rooms for the period of our visit, demonstrating the skills. Hand painted really does mean hand painted in this case. I have to admit, I would not have chosen to visit a ceramics factory ordinarily, but it was mildly interesting.
From there the bus took us through the countryside to the place Peter and I had wanted to see, the Fire Lake. Interestingly, the countryside is very green and has loads of cows, (shades of England). The bus climbed the 900 metres to the edge of the crater and stopped at a couple of sites giving magnificent views over the lake. Glorious.
Sao Miguel island is actually very long and thin, made up of 3 volcanoes in a row of different ages. If I remember rightly, the one furthest east is 6 million years old, the central one is 60,000 yrs old, and the one in the west is 1.3 million years old (thereabouts). From our viewpoints almost central on the island, we could see the eastern volcano/hill and both the north and south coasts.
Sao Miguel island is actually very long and thin, made up of 3 volcanoes in a row of different ages. If I remember rightly, the one furthest east is 6 million years old, the central one is 60,000 yrs old, and the one in the west is 1.3 million years old (thereabouts). From our viewpoints almost central on the island, we could see the eastern volcano/hill and both the north and south coasts.
The views were spectacular and our tour guide explained that the area was now all national park with conservation orders all over it, although all outdoor activities such as walking and climbing were being encouraged.
The bus then took us down to the small city of Ribeira Grande, where we were left to our own devices for half an hour. A lovely, lovely placewith fantastic buildings and a lovely little central park, we could have easily spent a lot more time there. Sadly it was time to leave, and we returned to the ship in time for lunch.
A quick meal, and then we dashed back out again to have a look round Ponta Delgada itself, which is the capital of the island and actually a wonderful city. Everywhere we looked was a pleasure. Like Madeira, the people used the volcanic basalt to create their houses and streets. The streets and paths are made from basalt blocks and another cream stone in wonderful mosaics.
The houses have ornate balconies and doors and are a pleasure to look at. As were the churches and official buildings. We were looking at the “old” city of course, we had seen the modern buildings of the “new” city further out during our tour this morning. As we passed our fellow passengers they all said the same thing – “what a wonderful place”, most saying they wanted to come back.
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