Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada Azores

Today we arrived in the stunning waters of the Azores. The Azores is a group of Islands off the coast of Portugal and are officially Portuguese.  On arriving we were greeted with vistas of green rollings hills as the backdrop and quaint European style architecture next to the water. We were off the ship early to take advantage of the sun shine as apparently the weather here is very changeable. Lucky for us though the whole day was superb weather wise. The sun shone and it was about 16 deg c, perfect weather for strolling around. All the roads are cobbled stone and the buildings are european looking with fancy doors ,window shutters,Juliette balconies and the doors open right onto the street.

We found a park that the boys could explore and kept them entertained them for two hours. The park was built in 1861 and had an old fort,tunnels,grottos,hidden paths and dungeons for the boys to get lost in. And it had free WiFi so we were able to skype Timothy and talk to him properly for the first time since we left Australia.

We then headed to the local mall  in fact it’s the only mall on the island and had a brief look around. We checked out the food court as we were a little hungry. What struck me was that everything was made to order and each food outlet was impeccably clean. Coffee only comes in a china cup, no take away coffee cups here, harks back to the good ol’ days. Coffee was about $2 AU. No super-sized coffees just a normal size coffee cup.

We didn’t look at the shops although Harison had a quick look in a pet shop. Next we headed to yet another park that had beautiful gardens and trees from all over the world. The boy love running around the parks and hiding in the giant bamboo or trying to clim the roots of giant Moreton Bay fig trees. I love that even though they are teenagers they are still young enough to play like kids in a park and prefer that to being inside. After covering every square inch of the park we walked back through the town to the ship. By this time it was 2.15pm.  After a quick stop at that ship to dump our things we didn’t need we the headed out again  to take an hour long bus tour . By now the clouds had started to come in but it still hadn’t rained and we really hoped it wouldn’t rain as we were seated in an open top bus. The tour was a great way to see things we wouldn’t have time to walk to.

The reason the countryside is so green is due to the high humidity and high rainfall even though the average temperature is only 19 deg c all year. The country side is gorgeous.

At 4pm we had finished the tour and Grahame wanted to try a local beer so next stop was a cafe . By 4.45pm we were back at the ship. It was a wonderful day here and the town is beautiful. What I liked about Ponta Delgada was that the Mall housed the fancy shops, the brands, the advertising. The local shops were in the buldings that lined the streets but just in random places. Not shop after shop after shop. The shops were tiny and quaint and there were no glary advertising or big signs. It was just lovely, old fashioned almost, the way it should be.

We all really enjoyed this port of call. Our last sadly before we head to South Hampton.