|
  | |  |
At Sea and The Azores
Entry 40 of 42 | show all | print this entry |
Sunday 13th May - Sao Miguel, The Azores
We had no ideas about the Azores before arriving and therefore no expectations - what a delight this day turned out to be!
This island, probably the major one of nine that make up the Azores,came into view very early in the morning. With the customary help of a local pilot we came into Ponta Delgada, the largest and most populous city. We had booked an organised trip for the afternoon so decided to walk into the town during the morning. It was fairly quite - we were up and running early for once, and it was a Sunday - but as we moved further in we became aware that something fairly major was happening around the square where two churches stand. People were gathering, TV cameras and equipment was being put in place, and a vast street carpet of flower petals was being put down as we arrived. No, not for the visitors from Costa Magica, but an annual religious festival which had started the day before and reached its climax on the Sunday. The event is called The Festival of the Christ of Miracles and after speeches from senior churchmen a three hour procession ensues whereby a very heavy image of Christ is carried through the town followed by worshippers along flower decorated streets. The festival has been enacted for the last 300 years and you get a sense of a deep religous tradition on the island - we heard that at least 60% of the islands population would be here this day. We stayed as long as we could before making our way back to the ship for our trip which, just by looking at the island from a distance, we were already looking forward to.
The trip duly got underway, not much thanks to Costa whos organisation skills were hopeless. Once on a coach we set off to the Antonio Borges Botanical Gardens which turned out to be lovely - not too big so a short walk around gave us most of the sights - but full of a great variety of trees and fauna - lots of pics of course!
From here we went on to see a pineapple plantation which was quite unusual because all the growing takes place in greenhouses. The growing of pineapples had been one of many diversifications where before the Azores had majored on growing oranges, mostly for Britain. Because the climate is not ideal for pineapple growing they are cultivated in greenhouses through various stages, taking 18months to fully grow for market. We were allowed a taster of a pineapple liqueur which was very nice indeed!
Back on the coach and we climbed away from the coast getting higher all the time and the scenery was simply superb. The island is known as the green island because it is green all year round - the climate stays between 55 and 73 degrees F throughout the year - with lovely flora and fauna all around. At the top of the climb we stopped for our first views of Sete Cidades where there are two lakes nestling in the crater of an extinct volcano - absolutely beautiful and not to be missed if ever you have the chance.
We then went down to the lakes and the valley floor to stop for refreshments and look at the town. Whilst here we noticed that many people were gathered in the bar to watch the procession from Ponta Delgada on the TV. We returned to the coach and climbed back up from the town and took a different route back giving us numerous magnificent views of the island, which in many ways reminded us of areas such as Dorset or Herefordshire with rolling green hillsides tumbling down towards the sea, or rising up mountain sides. We took in the tour guides information regarding direct flights from the UK although the landing strip by the sea wasn't great for Liz's flight concerns!
We returned to Ponta Delgada and the ship thouroughly enchanted by Sao Miguel, and as we sailed away we were lucky enough to be able to stand on our balcony and see alot of the island go by. If you ever have the chance then go!
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Portugal or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
6 votes 
