January 25, 2024
I like islands. I was born on an island, I cruise to islands, and I gravitate to islands, so coming to Ponta Delgada for two weeks to avoid the snow and cold in January seemed like a good idea; after all this is an island. Ponta Delgada is the main city on the island of Sao Miguel which is one of nine small islands in the middle of the Atlantic that make up the Azores, almost halfway between Lisbon and Maine. The good news is that we have escaped the cold and snow, however we have only seen the sun a few times in the past four days. When it makes its cameo appearance the island sparkles, when it is gone, the inland is dull, shrouded in fog and mist with periodic rain squalls, most of which last for only a short time, but they are plentiful.
It would appear that the main export of the Azores is its people. The nine islands have a total population of under 200,000 while the number of Azoreans in North America exceeds one million. The motto seems to be,”If you can, leave!” This has resulted in, from what I have observed, a weakened gene pool! I have never seen so many optical stores and pharmacies in such a small town. The town is very hilly and every road and what passes as a sidewalk is paved with volcanic cobblestones, the most accessible building material. The cobblestones are used for garden walls, churches, houses, in fact they are used for almost all building on the island. Some of the roads are quite steep which in combination with the lack of sidewalks makes this the most unfriendly city for pedestrians we have ever visited.
We were told that to truly see all that the island has to offer - and there is plenty - you need to rent a car since there is no public transportation. The problem for us is that to rent a car here you must be between the ages of 26 and 68! Just missed the cut by ten years! So, when and if the weather clears we shall be hiring small vans with drivers to take us on half-day trips to some of the magnificent hot water springs, geysers, sparkling lakes and rugged sea shore. Will be much less stressful than driving for sure and we are told that the drivers have an in-depth knowledge of the island, its history and its culture, which will be a plus.
The apartment that Cindy found for us is just lovely and quite spacious. We have three bedrooms and two baths, not terribly up-to-date, but serviceable. We have eaten well in every restaurant, bar, and cafe that we have visited. We learned a lesson some forty plus years ago on our first visit to Portugal when we crossed from Spain and spent the night in a Pousada, the Portuguese version of a Parador. The dinner, which was included with the room, consisted of a lovely appetizer of cheeses and meats, lots of breads, and for the main course a fresh whole trout served with lots of potatoes and vegetables. We struggled to finish the delicious meal and were quite proud of ourselves when the waiter came by and served us another whole trout and all the trimmings! So, we now know that one of us will order an appetizer and the other a main and there will be more than enough for three!
We have not had a bad mouthful of food in Portugal. The Intercontinental in Lisbon has upped its game in the culinary department and offered up innovative and well prepared meals. Here in Ponta Delgada the food is solid and at times really creative. Yesterday at lunch Cindy ordered local blood sausage that was grilled to perfection and served with slices of fresh pineapple, which is locally grown. It was a stunning dish with only two ingredients that played off of each other beautifully. I had the local tuna, which is quite different than what we are used to. It is a very dark fish and there isn’t any pink or red even when raw. It would make a very unattractive sushi but my goodness it is delicious. Of course it was served with plenty of cauliflower, potatoes, sweet potatoes and rice, yes, they serve potatoes and rice together! Again, even with Cindy’s help I ended up taking a large piece of tuna home.
One night we were searching for a restaurant when the skies opened up just as we were passing a Churrascaria, so we dashed in. Normally we avoid these places since they feature lots of meat cooked on an open fire, but we found two dishes that were appealing to us, grilled octopus and a half of a grilled local chicken. My goodness, such marvelous food with fantastic wait staff and the best grilled garlic bread ever. The wine was four euros a glass for a very healthy pour; we were in heaven!
Enough for now, more later after we have done some touring! Ciao, Cindy and William
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