Hotel Holiday Inn Azores Ponta delgada

... while I headed back to the Hotel to check e-mail (this is really a cool way to work -- early morning and early evening).

Once work-fixed, we bought our daily Metro passes and headed off for the district by the River where the Aquarium is located and a large mall carrying the name: Vasco de Gama. As we moved from one Metro line to another, we walked right into a patisserie-coffee shop where I was able to truly start my day ...

... rich, but he basically had a private park, which houses a chapel, towers, a waterfall, and other random monuments some of which are connected by underground tunels, for a yard. We had a great time there, it was like a big playground! The second half of the day we spent hiking up to and in an old Moorish castle. The view was good, but would have been amazing if it hadn't been foggy!!

We spent most of the last day in a museum. It ...

... que veio a ser arrasada por um sismo em 1522, altura em que foi transferida para Ponta Delgada. Ponta Delgada, é uma cidade em constante desenvolvimento, onde se mantém ainda as suas igrejas e palácios do século XVI e XIX. A maior festa religiosa dos Açores é nesta ilha realizada, mais propriamente na cidade de Ponta Delgada, aonde acorrem todos os anos milhares de pessoas. São as ...

... this splendour we ambled home through the Alfama, trying to find a different route home but not really succeeding. We did find some new alleyways and some different fado houses, but I think it would take a long time to get to know these streets well. Oh - are you wondering about my bag? I rang the baggage agency at the airport this evening. Here's how the conversation went: 'Hello, I'm calling about my bag, reference number blah blah.' 'Ah, yes sir, unfortunately we have been unable to ...

... Regardless - this girl standing on top looked like she was going to jump as you will notice in the photos. We walked down the boardwalk for a while - there were men fishing - and catching some pretty nice looking fish. We were headed for the Belem Tower - but oops - there was a marina in the way and no way to cross - we zoomed in with the camera for a photo - but then decided we should head back. As we were walking back to catch the trolley, we noticed a large crowd of ...

... part of it, and Gabriel doodled the whole time (and that entertained me too). I did manage to take a few notes during all of that though. We ate lunch in the campus dining hall called the Canteen; it was nothing special but not bad either. After that we got picked up by our guide, Christina, and a bus to take a tour of the tile museum and a private house that had lots of tiles in it. It doesn't sound exciting now; believe me it didn't sound that exciting to me either but ...

... to the bottom where you could wander around through many cave systems. We didn't have a torch so using the mobile didn't give off to much light and it got quite scary at times. We headed to Belem the next day (another area of Lisbon) basically to try a custard tart! I know this seems a little odd, but everyone kept on telling us how good they were so we had to go. It was worth it, they were so good, very hard to stop at just ...

... to Sintra was included as was all city transport. Taxis to the airport are about half the price from the airport. According to one book I read, you don´t have to tip taxi drivers. There is an extra charge for luggage - about 1.60e which is on top of the main fare. Water at Lisbon airport - after going through security cost 1.80e for a small bottle. These shops must be loving the security liquid regulations!

... areas. Although Goa was liberated in 1961, the portuquese never seemed to have invested in facilities in its colonies but rather used all collected taxes to develop Portugal! We began our trip at the Castille St Jorge high on top of the city that offered spectacular views of the city and the Tagus river and orientated ourselves. Next we went up the Santa Justa Elevator ,one of the city's best ...

... in Coca-cola, Carlsberg, and chocolate bar adds, but you know. That's how it goes. At least they still run. Just as I was trying to find my way out of Alfama, I walked by this one street and could hear this beautiful voice coming from down a back lane. I couldn't walk by without knowing where it came from. I thought maybe a cd, but as I passed by this open door, I saw this Portugese woman singing. Just doing her work and singing this beautiful ...