The Azores

Well, it’s been a couple of real nail biter weeks around here - but I’m delighted to say that we’re leaving the country.

We cautiously rebooked our trip to the Azores in the middle of March - expanding the trip out by a few days and adding a second island into the mix. A little after that, I started planning the itinerary and booking anything that had a good cancellation policy. EDP kept his eyes on the numbers. I put my Ativan and my passport (still valid!) in the guest room. EDP added a box of COVID tests. I started searching for somewhere to get our departing COVID tests done for a reasonable price. EDP suggested we shouldn’t expect eating indoors to be safe. I put us into self-imposed isolation 2 weeks before we were supposed to leave. EDP asked me if I had heard about the volcano on Sao Jorge. I resigned myself to having to cancel NOT because of COVID but because of a stupid volcano erupting (the volcano is not stupid.)

But it didn’t. And we didn’t get COVID. We did get negative PCR tests from Life Labs (hey, Life Labs - if you’re reading this, PLEASE reword the start of the section on what to do if you get a positive test result because while I understand in my head that you aren’t going to put test results in an email, when you’re scrolling your results at 5am and you see “COVID test result is positive” in bold red letters, you have a mild heart attack. Just either add the “If your” also in red & bold or reword the whole sentence. Please?) We packed up the dog and EDP’s vegetable seedlings for their vacation and then packed up ourselves and went to an airport to GET ON AN AIRPLANE TO A DIFFERENT COUNTRY.

And now we’re gloriously on our way to the Azores - specifically, to São Miguel for 4 days and Terceira for 3 with 3 days for travelling. We have an overnight flight that gets us in to Ponta Delgada very early on tomorrow morning, staying at the Grand Hotel Açores Atlântico with a bay view and a car rental for a couple of days so that we can:

• Wander around Ponta Delgada, exploring this lovely little city

• Hike up to Lagoa do Fogo

• Experience local wines & cheeses with the Hungry Whales company

• Hike the Salto Do Cabrito trail

• Visit the Caldeira Velha hot springs

• Visit the Cha Gorreana tea plantation

• Hike the Lagoa das Sete Cidades hike

• Visits the Ponta da Ferraria hot springs

• Canoe Lagoa das Furnas with Picos de Aventura

• Take a Gin Masterclass at the Solar Branco Eco Estate

Then we move on to Terceira, taking a lazy day to travel over to Angra do Heroísmo, staying at the Terceira Mar Hotel with an ocean view while we:

• Hike Monte Brasil

• Visit the Museu do Angra do Heroísmo and the Jardin Duque de Terceira

• Go on a whale & dolphin watching tour with Ocean Emotion

• Go out to Algar do Carvão & the Gruta do Natal

• Rent a car for a day to tour around the island

And then we have a final travel day to get home! We’re gone for about 10 days and are sticking to almost entirely outdoor activities. We’ll keep our masks on, though there’s no requirement for masks in the Azores at this point - their numbers are quite a bit lower than ours and numbers have been slowly decreasing so we’re hopeful everything is fine, but we do have that box of COVID tests, just in case.