Reset search
Azores & Portugal
  • marta goes places
  • marta goes places

Azores & Portugal

Two weeks trip. Read more
FollowInsightsInsightsCalendarCalendarPhotosPhotosShareShareBucket list
InsightsCalendarPhotos
  • Trip start
    November 13, 2021
    marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    First day in Azores

    November 13, 2021 in Portugal 🌧 20 °C

    We had never considered visiting the Azores. In fact, Dean didn't even know where these islands were! But after doing some research to find a Covid-safe destinations, with high vaccination rates, and few restrictions, this seemed like a good option. On top of that, we learned that the Boston area has a fairly large Azorean and Portuguese population so finding direct, affordable flights to the islands is easy. What a great discovery! Fun fact: Portuguese-speakers (not only from Portugal, but Brazil as well) form the largest linguistic minority in the state of Massachusetts.

    In any case, we planned our trip and after only a few hours flight in a half empty plane, we landed in São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous in the archipelago. Of course, these islands are tiny, so "populous" here means less than 68,000 people.

    It was still dark when we landed, but our hotel room was already ready for us when we arrived in Ponta Delgada. And what a beautiful and charming hotel! Casa do Pateo offered a huge room with very high ceilings, lovely decor, an amazing breakfast in adorable dishes, very friendly staff, an unbeatable -and still quiet- location... and terrible internet connection. I didn't care that much, but Dean needed to get some work done and had to use his phone as a hotspot.

    After a short nap, we went to get breakfast at a place called Intz48. It may be because the reviews were incredible, but I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be. My omelet was good, but not extraordinary, and I was hoping to see more options in the menu.

    We walked to the botanical garden José do Canto, a lovely place with some interesting trees and a bunch of chickens running around. We even saw some eggs on the ground! The Moreton Bay Figs (Árvore-da-borracha-australiana) were probably the coolest, with their huge roots forming walls. The Prickly-leaved Paperback (Melaleuca), with its paper-like bark, was also fun.

    I was still exhausted after our night flight and I needed to take another nap at the hotel. Unfortunately, by the time we went back out it had started raining. We knew it would happen, but we didn't expect as much water as we got. We walked to the Forte de São Brás, a 1552 fortress that would have been very interesting if it weren't because by then the storm was huge and we had to get inside. The building hosts now a Military History Museum with a bung of weapons, vehicles and uniforms. I'm sure there are people out there who would love it, but it wasn't exactly my kind of thing, and there weren't enough explanations to learn much.

    Still, we had fun, but at some point we had to leave and get back under the rain. By then everything was wet, water was running down the streets and the houses drains were throwing water to the streets - and to us. By the time we got to the hotel even my underwear was wet, not to mention everything else.

    We had some snacks we had got at a store next door and waited for the rain to stop to look for a place for dinner. This is when we learned that makijg reservations is a good idea in Ponta Delgada. A couple of places turned us away, but we ended up getting a table at a restaurant next to the hotel called Adega do Mestre André. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but we had a good meal and the staff was very friendly.

    I slept SO good that night.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Furnas

    November 14, 2021 in the United States ⛅ 12 °C

    We got our rental in the morning, a tiny car from Ilha Verde, which seemed to be where most, if not all, of the rental vehicles came from.

    We drove to the Poça da Dona Beija, one of the thermal baths in Furnas.Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Whale watching, finally!

    November 17, 2021 in Portugal ⛅ 21 °C

    We had been meaning to do a whale-watching tour since we arrived in the Azores, but the weather hadn't allowed it until today.

    We booked it through Big Blue Adventures but it was actually run by a company called Pico de Aventura. This is a common but seasonal activity in the islands, and I assume that offerings depend a lot on the time of the year.

    This one was good, though! We went on a little, jumpy motorboat (Dramamine needed!) and we saw a bunch of dolphins and a couple of whales. The sei whale (baleia sardinheira) gets its Portuguese name from its diet, which includes sardines. It's rare to see them here at this time of the year!

    We got back to the hotel in time to take a shower, change and check out. Our flight to Terceira was a couple of hours later. Getting there was fast and cheap, only 10 euros. This is a small airport and the flight was very short. There were not many taxis at the airport in Terceira and we probably should have got our rental car from there instead of the city. In any case, we made it quickly to the hotel, the Azoris Angra Garden. It was a pretty generic hotel and not as cute as the previous one we had stayed in, but with a great location in the center.

    The time was somewhat weird and late for lunch, so we just went to have a snack at Tasca das Tias, which was very well reviewed but didn't feel particularly special. I went to the hotel to rest for a bit while Dean went out for a walk. We had woken up quite early after all.

    For dinner, we went to Captain's Table, a casual restaurant offering fish. The waitress and the person we thought was the owner of the manager kept making jokes. Dean seemed to find it somewhat annoying, but I thought it was funny. I didn't love the dinner but that's mostly just because I only like fish cooked in certain ways.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Biscoitos

    November 18, 2021 in Portugal ⛅ 19 °C

    For our second day in Terceira we decided to visit the western part of the island. We were planning to start with the caves, but then we realized they are closed on Thursdays. Oh well. We thought we'd be able to do it some other day. After all, the island is tiny.

    We took a nice walk to the car rental place. The streets in Angra do Heroísmo are so cute! Founded in the XV century, this is the Azores’ oldest city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. An interesting fact is that around 70% of Angra’s houses were destroyed in an earthquake in 1980. Terceira was rebuilt following the original heritage, and that's what got it the UNESCO title. The buildings are colorful and charming.

    After getting our rental car (which took a while, for a number of reasons) we headed to Furnas do Enxofre. After having visited Furnas, in the São Miguel Island, this sulfur field felt less spectacular, but still amazing with its steamy fumaroles.

    From there we drove to the Quatro Ribeiras Beach. The Azores have these wonderful natural pools where the ocean water meets the volcanic rocks, with some artificial accces and stairs. I loved it. We were here off season so the place was quite empty and the facilities that would be usually open during the season were now closed, but my understanding is that it can get quite crowded during the summer. I'd love to come here when is warm though.

    We went to a restaurant called Caneta to have lunch. I wanted to try the traditional dish, alcatra, a slow-cooked beef pot on a rich thick sauce. It was very good!

    We kept driving around Biscoitos and stopped at the Biscoitos natural pools, similar to the Quatro Ribeiras place, and then at the Pico Matias Simaõ. This is a viewpoint in top of a volcanic elevation, accessed by a long set of stairs. On the top you can see a cross that looks like a church from the bottom but it's actually a monumental structure with three walls. The views from here are nice.

    We were close to sunset so we kept driving all the way to the West, to the Ponta do Queimado viewpoint, to see the Graciosa island from there. We were quite impressed by the several fishermen who were there catching tons of fish.

    From there we just drove back to the hotel to rest a bit and go for dinner at Birou Bar. It was good, but I wasn't very hungry after the alcatra we had had for lunch.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Ocean kayaking

    November 19, 2021 in Portugal ⛅ 19 °C

    We walked up early to go kayaking in the ocean. It was the perfect day for it! Not too sunny, not to hot nor cold, not windy.

    We had booked our tour with Rope Adventures, an agency that does a lot of activities such as canyoneering and paddle boarding as well. We met our guides at 9.30AM and drove too our departure point on a bay in the northern part of the island.

    The tour was fun! The water wasn't too choppy and the guides were nice and friendly. And the coast, like everywhere else on the island, was lovely.

    I should have guessed that the ocean waves would make me seasick, because halfway through it I wasn't feeling that well, but so it goes. We still got to jump in the water before paddling back to the shore.

    Afterwards, and after stopping at the hotel to take a shower and eating a sandwich at Sandoxa, we headed to Monte Brasil for a hike. This is a big green area in the city, next to a fortress, and we were looking forward to it, but unfortunately it was closed to visitors because of the deers mating season. The views from the fortress were beautiful though, so the walk there wasn't a waste of time.

    We still wanted to walk some more so we went to the Duque da Terceira gardens, next to our hotel, all the way to the top, where an obelisk from 1856 (Memória a D. Pedro IV) faces the city. This is a really nice city walk, with beautiful plants and stairs, a cute fountain, and good views.

    We had dinner at a restaurant, Elio's, that offered Portuguese food as well as pasta and pizza.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Volcanic caves

    November 20, 2021 in Portugal ⛅ 15 °C

    For our last full day in the island, we (finally!) went to visit the caves that we hadn't been able to see on Thursday. They're open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, starting at 2.30PM, so it's easy to miss them if you don't pay attention to the schedules.

    But before that, we did a hike starting from the first cave, the Gruta do Natal (Christmas Cave). We had read the reviews for the hike (Gruta de Natal & Mistérios Negros) and it sounded quite challenging, with a lot of mud and some climbing, but it wasn't that difficult at all and it was in fact really fun and beautiful. It crossed a lovely magical forest and continued over some volcanic rocks. Short before the end we stopped to have some bread and cheese that we had got before starting, although there aren't really any places to sit down and have a snack.

    After the hike we visited the Gruta do Natal. It's a small cave and it's good that they gave us helmets, because both Dean and I hit our heads on the rock several times. Then we drove to the second one, Algar do Carvão, a much larger (and more crowded) cave.

    I was quite tired after the day and was feeling like having something sweet, so we headed back to Angra and stopped at O Forno Pastelaria for a coffee and a pastry. Dean wanted to go for a walk but I went back to the hotel to lay down for a bit.

    For dinner we went to O Pirata, a bar with some artisanal beers that Dean wanted to check out. It wasn't as exciting g as we had hoped and we were out of some of the beers that he wanted to try, but the burgers we had for dinner were good. On the way back it was extremely windy and some signs looked like they could fly away at any moment.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Belém

    November 23, 2021 in Portugal ☀️ 15 °C

    We had planned to spend the day in Belém and tried to get up early to be there at a reasonable time. We realized that being four, taking a taxi would be more affordable (and faster!) than taking the train. We started the day by visiting the Jeronimos Monastery. So beautiful! I really enjoyed it, and we didn't even need to wait long to get in.

    After visiting the monastery, we went to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries). We hadn't even planned to go there, but once we approached we decided to get in. You have to pay, but you can get to the top of the building and inside there was a photography exhibition of the Portuguese colonies that I really enjoyed. The building itself looks massive, and it depicts an idealized view of explorers. I wouldn't say exactly that I like it, but it's certainly impressive.

    Then we walked to the Belém Tower, but we didn't get in. It's been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1983, along with the Jerónimos Monastery, but we had heard the inside is not that interesting, and I guess we were starting to be tired by then. The walk by the water was great, though. Seeing the fortification semi-surrounded by water was very cool.

    We had lunch at a place by the water, À Margem, which wasn't particularly special but was very convenient, and then went back to the monastery to visit the church that we hadn't seen before because the lines were too long. Of course, we couldn't leave without trying the famous Belém cakes from the Pastéis de Belém bakery, even if none of us was really that hungry... I was full, but they were delicious!

    Before leaving Belém, we checked out an Ai Weiwei exhibit, Rapture, at Cordoaria Nacional. This is an interesting exhibition center. It was a rope production factory until 1998 and is now a wide, spacious space for rotating exhibitions. We enjoyed the Ai Weiwei one. Dean and I had already seen some of this work in San Francisco, but it was still interesting to see it in a different space. Some of the pieces were new to us as well.

    We took an Uber back to the hotel and Cristina and stopped at a store, Portugal dos Meus Amores, to buy a planter she had seen a couple of days before. I also got a couple of souvenirs.

    For dinner, my dad took us to a place where they went the previous time they had visited the city, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Lisboa 33, that had excellent and affordable food. We ended the night at a bar next door, Duque da Rua, with live Portuguese music and a super fun vibe. Unfortunately, we arrived so late that we only enjoyed a few songs before the show was over! I would definitely come here again, though.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Óbidos

    November 24, 2021 in Portugal ⛅ 14 °C

    This was the day our rental car was broken into, and my backpack got stolen. We will call it "the beginning of the nightmare."

    But before that, it was fun.

    We left the hotel and, after having breakfast, we headed to Óbidos. This is a quite touristy town, with the main streets packed with souvenir stores, but it is also beautiful. An impressive intact Moorish wall surrounds the historical center. You can go up the stairs and walk around it, but it is scary! There are no guardrails, and it can feel windy. We climbed up, and my dad and I were grabbing to the wall for our lives as people around us walked and looked at us, clearly thinking, "what is wrong with these two." I'm sure that someone who's not like me would enjoy walking all over the wall, though.

    I said that the town is very touristy and full of shops but hey, nothing wrong with that if you're into buying cute stuff. We got a couple of plates and an ornament for our Christmas exchange and tried a travesseiro, a flaky Portuguese pastry filled with egg and almond cream. It was so good!

    We had lunch at Real Casa Do Petisco, which I think ended up being a bit fancier (and with smaller plates) than what we had thought, and we headed to the car. We were planning to keep driving north, but... surprise. The car window was broken, and our backpacks were nowhere to be found. We were not the only ones. Other cars had been broken into, and we saw other travelers affected. Apparently, this is not a rare occurrance and I feel so dumb for leaving my bag on sight.

    I carried the most valuable stuff (documents, for example!), and we had to go to the police station to file a report, which was a pain because the policeman didn't speak Spanish, not English. This ruined our plans, and we had to go back to Lisbon to figure out how to replace my papers. We stayed at the Marquês de Pombal hotel and went to Cervejaria Ribadouro for dinner. Their specialty is seafood, and we were not that hungry, but it was very close to the hotel, and we were exhausted.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Lx Factory

    November 28, 2021 in Portugal ⛅ 14 °C

    My dad and Cristina were leaving today and we decided to walk up to the São Jorge castle and walk around those little streets. They're so cute! We didn't make it inside the castle because it was getting late and we needed to have lunch before sending them to the airport, but I still enjoyed the surroundings and views. We ate at a place right next to it called Claras el Castelo. Restaurants next to tourist attractions can be terrible and overpriced, but this was actually pretty good.

    They took the subway to get back to the hotel, pick the suitcases, and head to the airport. Lisbon airport is in the city and it's very easy to reach by public transit, but taxis aren't expensive either.

    After they left we took a taxi to Lx Factory. This is an old industrial complex turned into an art, shopping, and food center. It started in 1846 as a fabric production plant (Compania de Fiação e Tecidos Lisbonenses). 50 years later, the company moved, and different businesses took over. By the late XX century, the space was abandoned and rundown and a private investor decided to create this space. It's huge now and pretty cool. On Sundays, it also hosts an outdoor market, but some of the indoor places are closed. In any case, it's well worth a visit to walk around and do some shopping. I got a quirky jacket and Dean got a very nice t-shirt.

    For dinner, we got to go to a Japanese restaurant, Miss Jappa, since my dad wasn't there anymore and he couldn't complain about not liking the food. Unfortunately, the service was quite bad and the food was not that great, although I still enjoyed the sushi and it was nice to have a break from the Portuguese cuisine.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Errands and walking

    November 29, 2021 in Portugal ⛅ 16 °C

    We spent a good part of the day running errands and switching hotels. We started the day by having breakfast at Charlie Bistro, a cute breakfast spot with some nice options. I had a 'tapioca' (a tapioca flour crepe, white and spongy) with berries and dulce de leche that was delicious.

    By the time I was done at the post office and the embassy, and we had moved hotels, it was already 3.30 PM. We had a very quick lunch at Tapisco Lisboa, which was good and would probably have been great if we had arrived earlier and in time to order some of the more elaborate dishes. Our new hotel, 9 Hotel Mercy, was nice and the location was excellent.

    From there, we walked around some of the areas where we had already been. We checked the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, and the Bertrand bookstore, in Chiado. This is the oldest operating bookstore in the world! It was founded in 1732 and it now operates a network of 52 shops across Portugal. We walked into the store of the Companhia do Chapitô, a cultural center, theater, and circus company that also hosts a bar/restaurant with a terrace. We had actually considered eating here, but this wasn't the right moment and we wanted to keep walking around.

    We ended having dinner in Chiado, in Cantinho do Avillez. We really enjoyed it! It's another restaurant by chef José Avillez, the same one behind the restaurant Páteo - Bairro do Avillez that we had visited on our second night in Lisbon, but this one is way more chill. Because of that, I feel we enjoyed it more. The place was very cute and the food was amazing, and they still had the same hazelnut dessert we had eaten and loved at Páteo.    Read more

  • marta goes placesAzores & PortugalTraveler

    Castelo de São Jorge

    November 30, 2021 in Portugal ⛅ 11 °C

    For our final day in Lisbon, we finally made it to the São Jorge castle!

    We started the day with some pastries at Padaria do Barrio. After picking up my passport and getting a Covid test (which was really easy and free at the Martim Moniz square!), we finally went to visit the castle.

    The castle is one of those tourist attractions that are very interesting to visit. It was built in the mid-11th century to expand a small Visigoth fortress built in the fifth century. Since then, it has served as a royal palace, a military barracks, the National Archive, and a national monument and museum. In the 1940s, it underwent a major restoration. The views from there are amazing! It also hosts a camera obscura that I didn't particularly like, but people seem to do so.

    We had lunch at a place nearby, Paladarium, which was excellent. I had the dish of the day, some chicken with mushrooms over rice, and it was delicious and affordable.

    After lucnh we went to visit the Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade (Resistance and Freedom museum).This museum covers the Portuguese dictatorship, the resistance, the anticolonial movements of liberation, the Carnation Revolution, and the dictatorship's overthrow. When we went, there was also a temporary exhibition, Women and Resistance, about women fighting for their rights and freedom from the 1930s until 25 April 1974.

    I wanted to learn more about Portuguese history, and this was a great place to do it. Unfortunately, I was still dealing with my stolen debit card, and I couldn't enjoy the visit as much as I would have liked. Dean had to leave early for a zoom meeting, and I went to get a couple of gifts before heading back to the hotel.

    We had dinner at Zazah. It wasn't my favorite place, but it was quite nice.    Read more

    Trip end
    November 30, 2021