Some pics from Sao Miguel, Azores
We just spent a great week there. Everything is so lush and green, and such an interesting mix of typical “island” (palm trees, ocean) and “old Europe” (churches, stone). We were busy every day: whale watch, exploring botanical gardens, wandering the town of Punta Delgada, hiking, biking, kayaking, and eating a lot of good food and drinking plenty of wine. Since I’m pretty clueless about wine, it was fun to go to a restaurant and just ask for a glass of a ”local white wine” and get a winner every time. We had a private tour guide/driver most days, which was totally worth it. Only one of them was kind of a dud.
I was obsessed with the sidewalk designs…so cool, and so many different patterns.
And the cows! There are 2x as many cows than people on the island.
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Sueb20
10 months agoThis is the type of boat we watched whales and dolphins from…see the whale?
Tea plantation.
Gazillions of hydrangeas everywhere…wish I could return when they’re all in full bloom. They were just getting started.
Check out the roof tiles.
And tiles on sides of buildings. Note the sidewalks again.
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Some early blooms
Comments (16)Thanks guys for your kind comments, Dave you're absolutely right, I love the Fool's Gold too, she smell great, I could smell her from far away.... Karen, I will post pictures of the Mini white soon, the ones in the pictures are thumbalina.. Nicole the Wild Wheel is really unique, I was lucky to find it the last time I went to John's. When she first opens up she is a deep pink w/ the color break then when she starts to fade the pink streaks become almost purple... Pics 1-3 Thumbalina 4th Tropical Spider, 5th Lucky Star, Celadine, Thai Running man, Thai Wild Wheel (8-10), California Sally, Thai Unknown (Dulcemia?), Fool's Gold, Maui Hanging Windmill, California Sunset, Gulfstream and San Miguel....See MoreSao Paulo is blooming
Comments (11)Hi All, Thought I would add a picture of my Sao Paulo. Of course, it looks like no one elses. The coloring is similar to Apple Blossom but compared, this one has a huge 9 inch flower. Not sure if that counts or not but this was just stunning. Nancy...See MoreWill be packing soon for our trip to the Azores
Comments (4)Anne, on this trip we are just going to Sao Miguel, the biggest island in the azores. There is another trip we will be going on maybe later this year or for sure next summer, through the travel agency in Toronto, that organizes these tours that includes all the nine islands of the azores. It is a 3 week tour. Are you close to Toronto, Ontario, with the Canadian dollar down, the 9 island tour would be very reasonable in US dollars. I believe it is around $3600 Cdn, includes everything except for some meals....See MorePineapple plants on Pico island (Azores)
Comments (9)tropicbreezent - I have a São Miguel "Ananás dos Açores" label tag in my hands taken from the pineapple that I ate. I believe Costa Rica grown ones (that they sell here too) are GMO, but Azores-grown pineapples and most or all (?) vegetables and fruits afaik are naturally grown, without genetical modification. The tag explains exactly what the article wrote. São Miguel island pineapples are smaller. No, they are not called "Saomiguelense" or "Saintmichael's" or anything like that. I doubt that. But you can call them that, it's no problem. The end of the tag has the following text: Comissão Técnica de Certificação e Controlo - IAMA Rua do Passal, 150 - 9500 Ponta Delgada Tel.: 296 650 710 Fax: 296 653 707 Call them, they probably have someone who speaks English. I suspect if one tests the genetic compound of the pineapple grown on São Miguel island, it would probably have different structure etc. than others. I am only amateur grower, except I have almost 10 years growing experience of variety of palm trees. Currently am testing variety of exotic palms and trees on Pico island with very different success. P.S.: Pico has a lot of banana plantations with smallish very tasty bananas. They also sell imported bananas here in the supermarkets. Ananás are two varieties: Costa Rica and Azores....See MoreSueb20
10 months agoSueb20
10 months agoThis area of volcanic hot springs reminded us of Yellowstone.
See the little hills? Underneath are big pots of food, cooking underground. For lunch one day that is what we had. So wild. They cook meats (beef, chicken, sausage, lamb) as well as carrots, potatoes, etc.
This is the boiling water under the mounds.
We ate very well! Our hotel had buffet breakfast and the pineapple is so good there, we probably ate 10 lbs of pineapple over the course of a week. The local pineapples are smaller than the ones we see at home. We visited a small pineapple plantation and had fresh pineapple rum drinks as well as a whole pineapple. I had no idea it takes over a year to grow a pineapple!
The straws were edible!
Every restaurant we went to for dinner was small and quaint. We could walk to all of them from our hotel.
I had to take pics of our last dinner: skewers of meat presented in an unusual way.
We ate so much cheese. We started every dinner with a cheese plate.
And of course, cocktails. There are so many places to have a drink with a water view in Punta Delgada.
Oh, did I mentioned it rains at least a little bit most days? Fortunately the biggest downpour of the week began about 10 minutes after we finished kayaking. The rest of the days, we usually had minor showers in the late afternoon. Temps were in the mid to high 60s most of the time, very comfortable. DD and DH went for a swim in the ocean on our last morning! Water temp was 66.
Sueb20
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Zalco/bring back Sophie!
10 months agolast modified: 10 months agoSueb20 thanked Zalco/bring back Sophie!Sueb20
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10 months agoSueb20
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