Arriving Ashore in the Azores (Ponta Delgada)

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After the highest seas we’ve yet experienced and a most restless night we did finally get some shut-eye in the calmer waters approaching Ponta Delgada in the Azores. The sun was already coming in through the window, and we could see the shoreline getting closer as we approached the harbor. We’d been late signing up for tours in the Azores, and a phone message yesterday confirmed what we’d feared when we hadn’t received our excursion tickets in our mail drop by the door. Both of the excursions that we’d selected for the Azores had already filled. So today we would be on our own and need to wing it, as it were. We went up to the Lido where I had some fried eggs, sausage patties and some mixed pan fried potatoes. Sharon had just a waffle, with chocolate chips sprinkled on top. She said someone else put chocolate syrup on their waffle. I asked if any fried chicken was available; but, she didn’t think so.



We exited the ship by the ramp near the middle and saw a large contingent of tour cruisers streaming off by their own forward exit. Signs seem to indicate upstairs for the tour groups from the ship and the downstairs exit for all others including taxi cabs. We walked out into an empty pickup zone without a taxi in site. We walked around a bit and started walking towards the main boulevard along the waterfront; and, a guard their came towards us about 200 yards away waving his arms for us to go back. Evidently, only busses were allowed to use the road here. We managed to convince the guard back at the building to let us back inside to let us go upstairs, and things didn’t look promising there either. We saw only busses for the ship tours; but, pedestrian traffic was allowed, so we walked towards the street hoping to find a taxi. We found a woman seeking two more people to go on a tour she was offering along the coast, a view from above, up into the crater to visit a church, then up the caldera to see the blue and green lakes in the crater. The whole trip would take three and one half-hours, there would be a stop at a lakeside café, and the tour cost just 35 Euros per person.



He English was impeccable. We found out that she was a Canadian who had grown up in Toronto. Her parents were from the Azores originally, and had emigrated from Portugal in the dismal days before the revolution in the 1980’s. Several years back they had decided to come back to the Azores; she, had actually moved here 8 years ago working in the tourist trade, at first hosting ship tours, and more recently opening her own freelance business. There were 8 of us in a full van. There are 9 main islands making up the Azores, and everyone has a color. We’re on “The Green Island”. Appropriate, since our first stop was at a pineapple plantation. You’d think the weather here wouldn’t reach the tropical levels of Hawaii that you associate with pineapples… Well, here they grow their pineapples in greenhouses that go back over one hundred years. Pineapples were first brought here because they are pretty. Even today in the green houses they go through a several day long smoking process where the house is filled with the smoke from smoldering banana and pineapple leaves. This is believed to enhance the flowering of the purplish flower from the eyes of the pineapple. This is not the only highly labor intensive process for these pineapples… the fronds are also hand trimmed from time to time. To start a new pineapple, the root of a harvested pineapple is replanted, and when sprouts appear, those individual sprouts are separated and replanted in neat rows in the green houses. The whole root to harvest process can take up to 2 years to yield a 4 to 6 pound fruit. I also learned that the best way to store a pineapple that you are waiting to eat is on its side (and to occasionally rotate the fruit). In the gift shop I got to try some of the pineapple liquor that they also make in the Azores. And it had a tangy unique taste. Our guide recommended not to buy the liquor here… try it but don’t buy it… there are shops on the pier by our ship that offer the same liquor at a much better price. Here they wanted 35 Euros for a small bottle.



The group on tour with us commented on the show the previous night, and from the conversation we chose right, most feeling that it was really bad. Evidently, one of the four women singers that came onboard to replace the Fly Boys couldn’t hit a note… but she tried really loudly. The high notes were like nails on a blackboard for the man in the front seat of the van.



Our driver had a decision to make… where to take us next. The weather appeared threatening, and she decided it would be best to save the best for last and hope the clouds cleared up by then. We drove along the coast. We pulled out on a lookout point where there stood a whale watching station. Portugal had once been a major whaler of sperm whales and these lookouts were used to spot these behemoth creatures for the whalers. Since whaling was banned in the 1980’s these are now used to spot whales for the tourist whale watching business. These waters are among the best in the world for whale watching; although, this is not the best time of year for seeing whales. We decided to pass on the whale watching expeditions, primarily because it was possible we’d see nothing and likely that we’d see only dolphins; although, the picture of the zodiac speeding along chasing a school of dolphins did look exciting, and that might be great in the summer when the spray of the sea would feel refreshing. Today, refreshing isn’t exactly what I would call that. I should have known that I might be a bit underdressed in my shorts, short sleeved shirt and no outer wear when the guide looked at us and asked “No jackets?” We shook our heads, and she just said, “Hmmm!” I noticed everyone else had a jacket with them. And on this point I could feel why. The wind was quite chilling. I believe our British trivia teammates might even call it brisk. The view was spectacular of the sea below and the surrounding landscape. The moment I stepped out of the van, I knew better than to expect my hat to stay on my head, and stuffed it behind my pants and belt in the back. Don’t worry Erin, this is not going to be a repeat of my red-hat fiasco in the Holy Land. I like this Alaska hat; but, I was really fond of that red hat too. But others thought their hats would stay put, and until we were ready to leave, they did. Then the wind shifted with a gust to perhaps fifty miles per hour and off came one hat. The man using a cane tried to reach for the hat and stop it on the ground; unfortunately, he reached to stop it down a small step and the cane slid away from him and down he went onto the asphalt. We were worried that he might have broken something. He went down pretty hard, never mind the two steps that were involved. He had some bumps, a scuffed up arm and some scrapes underneath his jeans. The guide got out her first aid kit and patched him up as best he could. The downside for Sharon and me was the additional five minutes that it took to get into the shelter of the van. For a while we took shelter behind the van out of the direct force of the wind.



We drove up the side of the caldera, winding at times down some narrow streets. Along the road were many hydrangeas. Some blue, white and pink flowers were still in bloom this late into the season, but most were a dull rust color of the wilting flower. Still, we felt fortunate at the end of October to see these flowers. We stopped next at the St. Nicholas Church inside the crater, located in a small community there of about 200 people. We went into the church in this highly Catholic country.



We next stopped by the blue lake where we spent time at a café with free WI-FI. They have excellent WI-FI on this island, and everywhere it can be had for free. I connected easily and even managed a game of Word-Crack. Sharon and I had a soda, and shared a table with the guide. She told us of her 58 year-old mother who had recently gone back to Canada because of a brain-bleed, and they thought the care she could get would be better there. Our guide had just returned from a visit with her at the end of summer, and hopes to see her again at Christmas. Sharon said that she would pray for her mother. The guide thanked her, and said that many people are praying for her mom as well. The guide also mentioned the experience has brought her much closer to her religion.



From here we went across a bridge that separates the blue lake from the green lake. The color from the green lake is caused by the reflection from the surrounding trees on the slopes of the crater. Reflections off of the blue lake largely come from the sky. Legend has it that a princess had fallen in love with a common shepherd; and, that when her father the king discovered this romance he forbade their union. He gave her just one day to end this dalliance. The lakes are supposedly caused by their tears… the blue lake from hers and her blue eyes; and, the green lake from his green eyes.



We stopped atop the caldera at a lookout. Just above us stood the “Ghost Hotel”. This had been a 5-star hotel that was open for just one season back in the 1980’s. Today it is just a crumbling shell within, completely ransacked, vandalized and stripped of its contents and furniture. It failed primarily because the tourist trade then simply couldn’t support this venture. Today the property is available for less than what we are trying to sell our house in Ohio for (and our house there doesn’t have a view to compare with the view here).



We got back to the ship, and I did as she suggested, bought some of the pineapple liquor in a gift shop on the pier. I bought a full size 750 ml bottle for under 11 Euros. Sharon headed to the Dive In and I dropped the camera off in the cabin. The ship is holding my bottle until the last day when the cabin steward will bring it to me (otherwise they charge an $18 corking fee for all alcohol brought onboard in a port, unless it’s from one of their wine tasting tours). I went up and had a Cannonball with fries. The made my burger very quickly, and there were no delays or backlogs today. I brought Sharon a bowl of chocolate ice cream back at the cabin.



I was busily working on the blog from the day before, finishing I noticed that the 3:30 PM trivia time was just twenty minutes away. I woke Sharon up; but, she wasn’t easy to rise where she was on the couch. But she did get up and we made our way to Team Trivia in the Crow’s Nest. We met our whole team, and confirmed that Jim had been feeling a bit under the weather as a result of the rough seas that we’d experienced. I hope he’ll be okay on the upcoming six-day journey to the Bahamas.



We all figured that the team with the most FIFA World Cup titles as of 2009. It must be (and was) Brazil. But I let them down not being able to come up with the name of the first manned space station. We settled on MIR… alas, it was Salyut-1 (two years ahead of Skylab). Then came the “ ‘LS’ is the abbreviation for what country on license plates?” Jim thought perhaps Liechtenstein, I suggested Laos… I don’t even think I know what the flag of Lesotho looks like! I do know the German flag however, and was one of the few that knew its center color is red! I had to pull the “I lived there for 18-months card” to get them to stop debating what the color is. Stewart came up with the musical by an obscure writer who died just weeks before opening: “Rent”. I’d never heard of it! Jim and Lucia both knew the only bird in the Chinese zodiac… and I was about to come up with rooster as well. “What country brews ‘Sol’ beer?” Stewart seems to do quite well on the brewski questions. He correctly suggested “Mexico”. We didn’t know what type of animal a komondor is. I suppose I needed a “Phone a Friend” option. I could have phone my mom to see if she knew what a komondor is… (She’s what we affectionately call, a “Dog Person”). I’m not really sure what Valle wrote down for our answer to “What currency do they use in Slovenia?” Nobody liked my Ruble suggestion. Mike’s winning answer was tolar. I later checked my trivia spreadsheet and it seems to think Euro… which, gee, seems quite possible. It came down to the bonus question: “What does EPCOT stand for?” Sharon came up with the answer: “Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow”. What do you think folks, thumbs-up, thumbs-down. I’ll tell you, there isn’t a single wrong letter, not even one out of place with her answer. Unfortunately, she left out a few letters, namely “CommunITY”. We lost by one point… we’d have been in first all by ourselves and had two points to spare!



We sat at a dinner table for eight. One couple is the Catholic couple that brings song sheets to each mass that we’ve dined with before. Another couple was the couple who stood in line behind us waiting to get into see the Cathedral in Seville, and who coveted the ice cream that Sharon and I enjoyed. And the final couple had heard about us from the second couple (the women are twins), about how we were between homes leaving Ohio and moving to Las Vegas. It’s a small world… certainly a small ship. We dined next to the Captain’s table; although, he didn’t make an appearance this evening. I had the fried plankton and fritter with chili aioli to start with. Then I had the pepper pot soup. And my entry was the crab cakes. Sharon had the daily chicken (another Special Meal only because of the baked potato). And they had my favorite banana crisp with vanilla ice cream and Sharon the watermelon sorbet. Our tablemates also didn’t care for the show the previous night; although, one woman was charitable, “They were good, at times…” I think you can complete that thought.

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