Boston: Sat. Apr. 7 & Sun. Apr. 8 (Happy Easter!!)

And early it was!! Marv was easily up by 6:00 and I followed soon after. We went downstairs to enjoy the Deluxe Continental Breakfast, which included scrambled eggs and waffles, plus bagels, English muffins, cereal, etc. We ate our fill while we waited for Kris and Heidi. We also took food back to our room for the next morning since we would be on our way before they opened. We caught the 8:00 free shuttle to JFK/UMass station and took the Red Line down to The Commons. It was mostly sunny but the temperature was never out of the forties and it was windy. None of us really had warm enough clothes but we were here, so what could we do? We walked all 2½ miles of the Freedom Trail, taking a break for coffee fairly early on, both to warm up and to give places a chance to open up. We decided not to pay the extra to go inside places that charge a fee but enjoyed a talk at Faneuil (he pronounced it to rhyme with Daniel) Hall by a National Park Ranger. We had a great lunch at an Italian Restaurant on Salem Street recommended by our waitress the night before. Afterwards, as we climbed up the nearby Cobbs Hill, I was shocked to get a call from Sallie telling me that Mom had had a small stroke and was at St. Joe’s Hospital awaiting the results of an MRI. She was weak and having a little trouble walking but there seemed to be no other problems. There was nothing I could do right then so she said to just wait and she’d let me know more soon. We spent a long time in the excellent USS Constitution Museum, getting all the history of Old Iron Sides but chose not to go through security and stand in line to go aboard her. Marv & I had done it before and Kris and Heidi didn’t care to take the time, which was fine with us. While we were in the Museum Sallie called and said that the MRI didn’t show anything and that Mom was being released. Sallie took Mom to Sallie’s house for the weekend until she could make some arrangements for a bit of help starting Monday at Brecon Village. We hiked on over to the Bunker Hill Monument and climbed all 294 steps up the obelisk to look over the town and harbor. That just about did us in, so we dragged back to the docks and found the water shuttle to take us through the harbor back over to Long Wharf, where we took the subway back to JFK/UMass station. The free shuttle was quite late coming for us and we were pretty cold and grumpy by the time she made it. We ate a nice dinner at the restaurant on the other side of the motel and went to bed by about 9:00. We had to be up at 3:15am to get to the airport to take the flight that United had assigned us after taking over Continental. Luckily, our bodies had stayed somewhere between Azorean and Eastern time zones so we were able to function well enough to pack up and make the 4:00 shuttle back to the airport, even though the Easter Bunny didn’t manage to find us in time. There were no glitches getting onboard and flying to Chicago O’Hare. We rode a shuttle from one terminal to another that dropped us right next to the gate so we easily made the next flight, although we didn’t have much time in between the flights. There was a glitch on the second flight and so after we boarded we sat at the gate for an hour and a half before we managed to take-off for the 30 minute flight back to Grand Rapids. It was ironic to us that we could fly to the Azores and back without any problems until the last half an hour. We gathered our luggage while Kris retrieved the car and he still managed to get us back to Lansing in time for us to take Thelma out for Easter Dinner at the Kellogg Center. It was a very nice conclusion to another fabulous Spring Break trip with Kris and Heidi. I wonder where we’ll go next year.

Sao Miguel Island: Fri. Apr. 6 (Good Friday)

Kris caught up with Norberto in the morning, paid him the 360€ we owed for the week’s stay, and found out that we could lock up the villa, leave the keys inside, and go out the back door. We ate breakfast and completed the packing and had time to go back to town for a bit. So we went to the Jardim Jose do Canto, a garden area next to the Presidential Palace. Many things were closed today because of Good Friday but this was open and we had a nice time wandering among giant, old trees. It was the sunniest day of our time in The Azores, but it was blustery and cool. We went back to the waterfront and walked farther east than we had the night before and watched the waves crashing on the rocks. When we left there we found a gas station to fill the diesel rental car for the first time all week before driving to the airport to turn it in and prepare to fly away from this pretty green island. As we took off, the plane circled back along the island so that we could easily see how very narrow it is, and we saw the ocean on both sides of it. It had been a very nice stay at a pretty reasonable price and we still had Boston to look forward to visiting. There were no hold-ups or delays and the return trip to Boston took 5½ hours, as expected. They fed us a fish dinner and showed us George Clooney’s “Descendents” and the time went quickly. We landed in Boston about 5:30 and had no problems with customs or getting our baggage. We took the free shuttle to the Ramada Inn and decided to eat dinner at the Tavern/Brewery/Bowling Alley next door and stay close to Azorean Time. So we went to bed early and prepared to be up early Saturday morning.

Sao Miguel Island:Thu. Apr. 5

For our last day we decided to find the nearby Pineapple Plantation and the liqueur factory, and have lunch at Cavalo Branco (The White Horse) restaurant, which wasn’t open on our first day. The latter two were back on the north coast, just about 5 miles away up and over the island. We followed signs to the Pineapple Plantation, where we were given a sheet explaining what the different greenhouses were and how they are used in the process of growing pineapples. Sao Miguel is the only place in the world where they cultivate pineapples indoors and it was interesting to see. There was also a nice, but expensive, Gift Shop where none of us bought anything. From there we popped back over to Ribiera Grande and again followed signs that took us straight to the Mulhar do Capone liqueur factory. We walked in and were directed to the back, past enormous wooden kegs and the bottling and labeling rooms, to the tasting room. There was a large bus group being given a taste presentation in a Germanic language of some sort. But a woman invited us to the very front where a young woman with good English gave us our own chance to taste any of their 10 or so liqueurs and 2 brandies. They had sample size bottles of the liqueurs but not the brandies so we purchased a variety for gifts for the kids. (I don’t think any of our kids read this blog so this will still be a surprise gift for them!) From there we drove west along the north coast, retracing our route from Sunday, and returned to Cavalo Branco in Santa Barbara. Today it was open for our lunch and we were the first to be seated in the small space that slowly began to fill. One young man was the sole waiter and he did a good job. We all chose the house special, which was a tasting platter of fish, both boiled and roasted potatoes, bread stuffing, pineapple, chicken, beef, pork, and two kinds of sausage. It was a similar selection as the cozido meal from Furnas but prepared in a very different way and with different seasonings. Once again, it was more food than we could finish. With the rest of the afternoon stretching ahead of us we continued on around the west end of the island and drove the final bit of coastline that we hadn’t yet explored. When we returned to Ponta Delgada we parked near along the waterfront and walked both sides of the street along the water as the sun went down and the lights of the harbor came on. It was a nice way to say good-bye to our last evening on the island. We returned to the villa to enjoy bread, wine and cheese and then began to pack our things up to leave the next day.

Sao Miguel Island: Wed. Apr.4

Today we wanted to go to the far northeast corner of the island to the town of Nordeste. Sao Miguel is just over 40 miles long and between 6 and 10 miles wide so distances are not ever too great. Where the freeway/limited access highways go, one can make good time driving. But the old highway goes up and down and in and out of deep ravines, so that going to a nearby village can be easily twice as far as the crow flies and at times very slow. Such is the case for much of the northwest coast. Nordeste was considered another island for much of its history because the easiest and fastest way to reach it was by boat. We took the new highway to the east and then north across the island until we came to Formoso. We wanted to try again to find Cha Porto Formoso so Kris thought we should get off the main highway and head into town to find it. But we ended up retracing what we had done on Monday when we couldn’t find it. I suggested we go back to the main highway and sure enough, it was right along the way. We watched a short video and then our guide showed us some of the old and new machinery they use to make tea. We were given a chance to try their delicious Broken Leaf tea in the charming old stone tea room. We all enjoyed the experience far more than Monday’s more limited experience. As we drove on, we came across signs for Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeiroes. This was listed as a “can’t miss” so we stopped by. There we found the lovely Achada waterfall surrounded by lush vegetation. The area was famous for having 10 watermills but severe floods in 1986 destroyed most of them. Three have been acquired by the municipality to help restore and protect the natural park area of Ribeira do Caldeiroes. One mill has been restored as a working museum and an ancient miller demonstrated (with no English) how they grind corn there still today. We drove on with a few stops for Miradouras (viewpoints, remember?) until we reached Nordeste. There is a parking lot just off the main square so we left the car there and walked around town a bit, seeing their church and plaza and the famous 7 arches bridge. There was a snack shop next to the bridge where we shared a big pizza for lunch. While we ate, the rain that had threatened all day began as a heavy mist that continued much of the afternoon. It was a bit of a problem because the big appeals of the northwest coast are the fabulous viewpoints and most were now covered in fog. But we gamely made several stops at garden-like picnic areas to look over the ocean, including overlooks to see the beautiful and ornate lighthouse of Ponta do Arnel. Much of this end of the island is covered by two natural reserves: Pico da Vara and Tronqeira E Planalto dos Graminhais. They are best for hiking, have only gravel roads, and the travel book said not to bother if it is rainy because you can’t see anything. So instead we stayed on the main highway and slowly wound in and out of the ravines until we came to Povoaçao. On our way into the village we saw a watermill that was listed as another “don’t miss” and so we stopped by. This one was 150 years old and had been abandoned for about 50 years when the government decided to restore it as a site of interest. It has the original mill and much of the original wood, with new replacement wood where needed. We were shown around by a guide with good English. They had a tray set up in the Gift Shop with about 10 of the liqueurs made on the island for tasting. We bought a bottle of the coffee liqueur and it was a really good price. Afterwards we drove around the village a bit, and had the biggest scare of our trip. Marv turned down a narrow road that got narrower and narrower as we descended steeply. We got to the point where Marv was worried about the mirrors and sides of the car. We reached the bottom and there was an open gate we barely fit through, a high curb, and a deep gutter. Marv wasn’t sure we could make it but we really had no choice-there was no backing up that hill. With fear and trepidation we eased over the curb, cringing as we scraped bottom. At the first opportunity Marv parked to check the car and recover his wits. There was no damage and after some walking around, visiting a small zoo and the water front, and a cup of espresso with a pastry, all was well and we were ready to go on with the day. The road took us inland again and through Furnas, approaching it this time from the southeast. We were surprised to come in past some steaming, bubbling calderas at the edge of town with lovely gardens all around and convenient parking. We ended up spending about an hour walking around them and marveling at the boiling water, steaming mud and sulfur smell. Marv drove out of town on a road that gave us a last chance to get some pictures from far above the village and then past the calderas where they cooked our food the day before then back to the coast. In Vila Franco do Campo we tried to find a good fish restaurant on the waterfront, which the book promised, but we didn’t find anything open, either because of the time of day or the time of year. We ended up driving back to Ponta Delgada and finding a nice restaurant there that turned out to be right on the water, just beyond the road that goes along the harbor, but it was dark so we couldn’t really see the water. I think I had the best dinner (quails and mashed potatoes) while Marv had a steak, Heidi a pork steak, and Kris a steak sandwich. It was late by then and we returned to the villa for a bit of reading and bed.

Sao Miguel Island, The Azores: Mon. Apr. 2 (Happy Birthday, Mom!!):

Marv got out of bed when he heard Kris talking to Norberto. It turns out that there is someone staying in one of the places across the courtyard from us. She had called him to say that the power was out and Kris saw them outside talking. Norberto threw a switch outside and all was restored. He gave Kris the keys to the box in case it happens again. The day was cloudy and it would occasionally spit rain. After a breakfast of tangerines, eggs, and bread we headed a little ways east and then up across the island. And I do mean UP. We find ourselves climbing to 2500 ft. in a short way with switch backs with hairpin turns that can be a bit harrowing. We have seen signs here warning of 30% grade and anything less than 10% doesn’t warrant a sign. We also see cows walking in the road several times a day so you have to get used to watching for them and just plan on taking a break and slowing down for a while. Our first stop was at Maradoura Lagoa do Fogo (Fire Lake). The lake is in a crater of an extinct volcano whose caldera was formed during an eruption in 1593. The 2km long/1km wide blue lake is surrounded by high mountains. At 2500 feet we were far above the lake looking down into the wide caldera. We were lucky to have a pretty clear view and took plenty of pictures before the clouds rolled in, obscuring the view. We dropped down to Maradoura Barrosa for another wonderful view. From there an extremely steep path goes down to the lake and we could see people on the shoreline far below. But we felt the climb out was too much for the likes of us and so continued on our way to Caldiera Velha. Here there are volcanic hot springs with natural mineral water. One can bathe in the pool farthest up the trail but that water felt lukewarm at best and the waterfall that feeds it has left heavy deposits on the rocks so it wasn’t enticing. The first pool along the trail was boiling hot, steamy, and smelled strongly of sulfur so there was no question of entering it. There was some light rain falling at that site but luckily that was it for the day. The road descends on the other side of the island and we came to Ribiera Grande, the second largest city on the island. We parked at the city center and wandered for over an hour around the town square, looked at the gorge that the town is named after, walked up to the large main church and had coffee at a cafe across the street from it. When we had seen our fill we drove just outside of town and had our wine, cheese, bread, and apples picnic at a small roadside park. We realized that the factory I had seen on the way out was the ceramics factory we wanted to visit so we drove a short ways back and both couples bought a couple of things from there. We continued east, avoiding the short amount of the freeway that is finished on that side of the island. We much prefer the lovely and exciting older road with its curves and flowers and cow herders. We stopped at several spots to take pictures of the ocean and the long vistas and made a stop at Cha Gorreana, the largest tea factory in Europe, where we tasted three kinds of their tea, walked outside among the tea fields and bought some tea as presents. Marv continued driving us through Maia (in honor of Kris & Heidi’s daughter) and then cut back across the island by way of a road that passed high above Furnas, our destination for tomorrow. We looked down on it from far, far above and took pictures before taking a different road around it and over the mountains back to the west coast. We tried to find a restaurant in Vila Franco do Campo, which was the first capital of the Azores until it was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1522. We walked along the waterfront where there were colorful fishing boats moored and up to one of three nice churches in the village. But we never did come across an open restaurant so we headed back to Ponta Delgadas. After parking at the Sacred Art museum we walked a short ways to Jordao’s for dinner. Marv & I had grilled fish, Kris had the chicken kabob and Heidi had their house special steak. It was quite large and was served with a fried egg on top so she had quite a meal! While we waited for the food we called my mom to wish her happy birthday. It was a nice evening with the moon peaking through scattered clouds as we walked back o the car and headed home to the villa, with a stop at Sol Mar for some groceries.