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We finally reached the Azores Islands today and we were docked in Ponta Delgada when we woke up this morning. The Azores are actually composed of 9 islands, with this being the largest. They were all made by volcanos long ago, but none are active any longer – we hope.
We went to the breakfast buffet and again someone helped Janet with her plate. They are beginning to spoil her and David is going to have to step up his game in the future. Anyway, we had breakfast while the people on excursions were lining up for their buses. The ship was cleared to let people start disembarking about 9:30, so we went back to our cabin to let them get out of the way.
We did not have an excursion scheduled today. There was a shuttle bus to take passengers and crew from the ship, through the commercial port (pedestrians were not allow), and into the entrance of town, just outside the fort. David took this at about noon and strolled around for a while. Then he returned about 2:00 to the ship.
We wondered if Janet could track David if he carried one of the “tiles”
which we had placed in the luggage. Strangely it showed Janet was somewhere in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, but David and all the bags were in San Juan Puerto Rico. We’re not even going to try to explain that, but needless to say he did not bother to take one of the tiles with him.
This is a picturesque town with lush countryside surrounding the town. The further David walked, then the further he was going to have to walk back so this impromptu sightseeing wasn’t too far. Even at that, he recorded about 5000 steps. All the sidewalks are cobblestone with many of them having decorative designs. They aren’t terribly bumpy, but they would have presented a challenge to Janet’s walker none the less. The main streets were smooth asphalt, but the side streets were made from large cobblestones.
There was another cruise ship in port today, and together we produced a lot of tourists walking around town. There were a lot of little stalls and stands along the marina seawall, with lots of people buying local food. There were fresh pineapple stands where a person could get a full pineapple with the top chopped off and the
core removed, and then you would eat the fresh pineapple from inside to the outer edge like a bowl. The fresh pineapple smelled pretty good. There were also stands selling freshly made sandwiches and other foods. Of course there were plenty of drink stands.
Up in the town, the stores were beginning to close about 1:00, but there were also plenty of restaurants with sidewalk tables serving the starving tourists who hadn’t had a decent meal since they left the ship earlier today. There were lots of flowerbeds with blooming flowers. Altogether it was very nice place to visit, and David took a few pictures.
David caught the shuttle back to the ship. When he got to the gangway they were wheeling a lady in a wheelchair off the ship. She had her arm and shoulder in some kind of large sling. She was followed by a steward pushing a luggage rack with 2 suitcases and someone who must have been her husband. A couple of days ago David had seen a lady being wheeled away by medical personnel and another ships’ person taking pictures of the soles of her shoes. Sadly, it appears their cruise ended prematurely
– that’s why we are being careful!
When David returned to the cabin a little after 2:00, we decided to go to the International Café on deck-5 for lunch. This is a place where you can get small sandwiches for a light lunch, and that seemed like enough today. Janet got her first fancy coffee to go with a tuna fish croissant sandwich, and David got a Coke to accompany his salami pretzel sandwich. And we had slices of pound cake for dessert. We did not sign up for the drink package this trip and have been buying what we want but on a limited basis.
This afternoon we stayed in the cabin a watched the view from our balcony. While the ship was steaming across the ocean it was too windy to sit out there and read, but this afternoon was just fine. We will be sailing again the next few days, so it was good to enjoy the balcony while we could.
Our ship sailed from Ponta Delgada about 6:30. We had dinner reservations this evening in the Palm Dining Room but not until 7:20, so we got to see the sailing from our cabin
and on the bridge cam on the TV.
We had a delicious dinner. We each had a Shrimp Cocktail to begin. Then David had a small sampler of Fettucine Alfredo. For her entrée, Janet had the Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, but they gave her two huge pieces of beef, which she ended up sharing with David. His entrée was the Seared Diver Scallops with Pork Belly – interesting combination. For dessert, Janet had the Chocoholic Cheesecake and David had the Frozen Chocolate Praline Torte. It was a delicious but enormous dinner.
We returned to the cabin and watched a movie called “Jerry and Marge Goes Large”. It was about somebody who discovered how to beat the lottery and win all the time. Maybe we will learn how.
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