Ponta Delgada
It feels so good to be travelling again. And I say that as someone who got about 3 hours of sleep last night - on an airplane.
We left Toronto last night around 9pm and with a 6-ish hour flight just and a 4 hour time difference, we landed in Ponta Delgada this morning at about 6:30. It was a bit drizzly so they had busses to transport us from the tarmac to the airport, which was very nice but it definitely took longer for the bus to fill up and get us to the terminal than it would have for us to walk. We waited in a very short customs line, where a toddler had a complete meltdown because she didn’t believe her mother that we weren’t in Toronto anymore - and kid, I feel ya, I would be having a complete meltdown, too, if I thought we hadn’t left Canada. But soon we had our bags and had been dropped off at our hotel. Of course, it was far too early to check in but we were able to do some quick reshuffling to repack the travel backpack for the day and we headed off to see Ponta Delgada. I had a self-guided walking tour from one of the guidebooks to hit the highlights of this charming little city.
We started off in the main town square, Praça Gonçalo Velho Cabral, with it’s 3 arches which formed the original city gates. The square used to be the harbour, before it was built up in the 1940s. Just up a bit from there was the Parish Church of São Sebastião, where we got turned around for the first time on the walking tour, going to the wrong side of the church. We found our way eventually, seeing the old customs house, the town hall (formerly the home of a very wealthy family and the home of the oldest bel in the Azores), the old post office, and towards Forte de São Brás at the end of the harbour. Then, it was into Praça 5 de Outubro, with some very interesting trees (pollarded trees, according to the walking tour) and one very interesting tree, a 140+ year old imported tree from Australia. The square had a monastery, a convent and a church along its sides, and since it was early on Sunday morning, the largest crowds we had seen so far (like 8 people…) Then it was along the back of the square to see a few government buildings en route to the Carlos Machado Museum, which is connected to the Igreja do Colégio, a church built by the Jesuits that was used as a warehouse after they were expelled. We got turned around again and bumbled around a bit before finding the Teatro Michaelense. the theatre in town. The last remaining stop on the walking tour was close to our hotel so we stopped back at the first square we had visited to sit in a small cafe for a bit, having a late breakfast. We both opted for the “local platter” which had a bit of jam, butter, fresh pineapple, two kinds of cheese (one of which was really just a bland cottage cheese…) and two kinds of bread (one of which was almost cake-like and the other was bolo levado which was like a sweet English muffin and my new favourite bread product.) It wasn’t bad for a first meal, especially since selection was low on a Sunday morning.
It was still too early to expect our hotel room to be available so we walked along the water, marvelling at the giant cruise ship in the harbour and being somewhat amused by the small swimming area where you could swim in the ocean, if you so chose. EDP is waffling on this - on one hand, he’d like to give it a try but on the other, it’s really rather close to where all the ships, etc. are so you gotta wonder how clean the water is. After that, we figured that hanging out at the hotel’s outdoor patio seemed like a good plan so we got some drinks (first glass of Azorean wine!) and let the sun warm us and come very close to lulling one of us to sleep (3 hours!!) until the lovely front desk clerk came out to tell us she had a room for us. After collecting our bags, we headed up to our room with a view of the bay - which I’m delighted we opted for over the ocean view since the cruise ships dock directly in front of our hotel. After a bit of a refresh, we headed back out to see some gardens before dinner but alas, they were closing as we got there. So it was off to dinner!
The restaurant EDP had found, São Pedro, was really close to our hotel and he thought there was a patio. But when we got there - no patio. It doesn’t open until later in the season. So we had our first indoor dining experience in a long time. And it was delicious. I had tuna with a sweet potato mash and it easily the best tuna I’ve ever had and will be one of those meals I am still talking about in years. I also had my second glass of Azorean wine, this time a green wine, which is like a white wine but with a little bit of sparkle to it. Of course, there was also dessert - how could it be travel without dessert! It was such a lovely dinner - and really set a high bar for the rest of our eating here!
Tomorrow, we start our hiking! We’ve got three days in a row of hiking planned with tomorrow’s being the most strenuous. After Norway, though, I feel like I can conquer anything!
