Baixa de São Pedro

One of the best shore days ever. I was not expecting much. I have been to Yellowstone Park and Hawaii. I have seen ocean volcanos and calderas. But, I had never been to the Azores!

First,"parallel parking" a cruise ship at night, in the wind, into the narrow harbor at Ponta Delgada was attention getting. For a huge ship a little left, a little right, some forward and a lot backward, is rather disconcerting. We were at the Filipino Crew show so we heard first one set of thrusters and then the other interspersed with the songs and dances. Two tugs eventually pushed us sideways and backwards into the docking space. Thus, began our stay in the Azores.

The next morning, we got up and met our guide-driver for what became a great tour. We started at a pottery factory. I loved learning about every step in the process for making regionally famous blue ceramics. I restrained myself and did not purchase a palate of pottery. It was hard.

Our Lady of Peace Chapel was our next stop. It had the most wonderful stations of the cross stairway from the parking lot to the chapel. The blue tile holy picture with the calves in the green field highlighted a peaceful moment.

Next, we drove to the Furnas area of the island of San Miguel. Furnas is an active thermal area with steam rising to the surface in many places. We relaxed in thermal pools. There were four pools, each heated to around 39 degrees centigrade. We did not go into the 28 degree centigrade stream to cool off. We lounged around in the mineral rich pools that did not smell like sulfur. This is a characteristic of this areas pools and makes them extra popular. A large group of middle schoolers, on holiday arrived, as we were leaving. Our timing was great.

After our soak, we drove out to a city park where large pots of taro roots, yams, carrots, kale, & cabbage are slow roasted in thermally heated sand. All sorts of meats are also part of this natural slow cooker meal. There was beef, chicken, pigs knuckles, and chorizo and blood sausage. Everything is cooked for about seven hours. There is a fish cozido, also, but we did not try it. The meal was an extraordinary tasty mixture of the vegetables and the meats. Salt & pepper as well as what came out of the chorizo was the only flavoring. The blood sausage was cooked in foil to keep its flavor and color from mixing too much.

Each restaurant cooks its own pots of cozido. We were able to score "day of" reservations through our guide. We had not read carefully enough to realize that the amount cooked is limited and reservations are necessary.

We finished our day trip by visiting a tea plantation for an after lunch cup of tea. We were back on the boat in plenty of time to make "sail away". I always worry that I will be on the pier waving as the boat leaves. I slept very well that night.Read more