Archipelago

The Azores have always been associated with the lost city of Atlantis, the mythical island kingdom quoted by Plato.  In fact, a pyramid (60 meters tall) has just been found off the coast.  This discovery was made only about a month before we were there so the island  was buzzing with the news.  As far as their actual history goes, references to nine islands in the Atlantic Ocean dates back to the 14th century.

Prince Infante D. Henrique registered the islands in the map of Europe with the Portuguese Maritime Discoveries.  The name Azores is also debatable, but the common theory is that buzzards that populate the islands were mistaken for goshawks (called acor) and the name of the misidentified birds stuck.

Animals were sent by Prince Infante D. Henrique in 1431 - 1432, and settlers arrived in 1439.

We visited the port city of Ponta Delgada on the largest island of Sao Miguel.  It is spectacular.


The archipelago (my favorite word in the English language, by the way) was formed by volcanic activity and the formations associated with that activity make the Azores stunningly beautiful to visit.


The main industry (and source of wealth) was the export of oranges to the mainland, primarily the U.K.  In 1870 the orange groves were attacked by a round of infectious disease that decimated the production, and many locals fled to America or Brazil.

Eventually new crops were introduced (pineapple, tea, hemp, and tobacco) and their economy was back on track.  We visited a pineapple plantation...


Even though I knew pineapples were bromeliads it was still weird to see an actual pineapple plant.



Tiny, baby pineapple!


Upon the fields of gold.


Flower within a flower





After the pineapple express we drove to Lagoa des Sete Cedades or Lagoon of Seven Cities.  Twin (ecologically separate and individual) lakes set in the crater of a massive volcano.  The lakes are situated in a way that on a sunny day (i.e. not the day I was there) one lake in blue (reflecting the sky) and the other is green (reflecting the magnificent foliage).


The color of the lakes is explained by an old story of a widowed king, a princess, and her star-crossed love - the sum of which is that the king forbade the princess to ever see her shepherd boy again, but she snuck off to meet him one last time.  They cried and cried she from green eyes, he from blue eyes until their tears were so many that they formed the lakes.  The more morbid tale says that they drowned in their tears.


The drive from Ponta Delgada to Sete Cidades is nothing short of awesome.  It is among the most magnificent natural landscapes I have ever seen.


Absolutely gorgeous.

In town many yards and fields are fenced by rock walls that are built with the basalt native to the volcanic island, but in the country the fields are fenced with hedgerows of hydrangea.  It is breathtaking.  I would love to come back to visit in the spring when the flowers are in full bloom.


The Azores are basically a closed ecological system so they don't worry too much about outside contaminants to their food system.  Cows are ever present, grass-fed, and their bovine population is completely free of threats from mad-cow disease.  The cows, however, have a habit of wandering outside their home field and it is quite common to wake up to cows in your backyard.  We even saw a number of cows perched on high hills and rocky ledges more like mountain goats than cows.  In the bus, we joked about how the needed signs that said "watch for falling cows" rather than falling rocks.




The population is primarily Catholic and many homes have these tiles over their doors of the various saints the house has been blessed by or dedicated to.











Igreja de S. Nicolau Parish Church








On our way back to Ponta Delgada we stopped at a volcano within a volcano.  This crater lake is inside the Sete Cidades crater.


By the time our group made it to this lake the fog was starting to roll in.  We were very fortunate to have such good weather on this side of the island.  As we reached the overlook between Ponta Delgada and Sete Cidades we could see the other half of the island was already shrouded in clouds. The other shore excursion did not have the magnificent views that we did.



After we were returned to the ship I decided to do a little walking around Ponta Delgada.  It is very Portuguese in style with black and white architecture and intricately patterned sidewalks.











Rare, but muted, color






I LOVE this picture SO MUCH!


Original city gate





The Azores have the youngest population in Europe, and you can tell just walking around.  There are a lot of kids everywhere!  Because there are so many young'uns running around they also have extensive after school youth activities.  There are sailing clubs, adventure clubs, farming clubs, scout groups, etc.  The day I was in Ponta Delgada there were several scout troops roaming the city participating in what appeared to be some kind of scavenger hunt.  They had stations set up where the groups would go and complete a team-building task before moving on.

There were also some awesome graffiti murals on the shore front




There were a variety of cafes and restaurants just outside of the port.  I stopped at one for lunch and ordered a chicken sandwich.  What was delivered to my table however ...

Was this.  You are seeing a corn, tomato, and lettuce sandwich.  I did not take even one single bite.  /Ick.

Initially when I booked a transatlantic cruise home with a port day in the Azores I thought it was kind of a cool place to say you'd been, but was really expecting a total "throw-away" day.  Now I dream of going back for a longer vacation.  It is lush; beautiful, friendly, wonderful, tropical, awesome.  It also makes a great stop-over if you are flying to Europe.  The airport was originally built for military use so they can land any type of aircraft.  They have direct flights that are only 3-ish hours from Boston (and maybe somewhere else on the USA side of the ocean) making it a great place to ease into European time zones and culture.  Definitely a highlight of my trip...weird, disgusting, sandwich aside.

Bits of Barcelona - Cathedral

The first seven days of the cruise was round trip from Barcelona, so exactly a week later I was back in Spain.  Instead of booking a shore excursion, and because at this point I was very familiar with the city and its metro system, I decided to run a couple of errands, see the main cathedral, and meet my friend Maria for lunch.


Hi, Maria!  Isn't she great?!  Maria was my flatmate in Prague, and she got me through several sections of the course - especially grammar and Japanese.  (This picture is actually from the first time we met up when I first got to Barcelona.  She took me for Tapas and they were delicious. I still do not like ham, unless it is Iberian, then an exception is granted.)

Side note:  The port is located at the base of Las Ramblas, and there is a metro stop (Drassanes - Green Line, L3, FTW!) right by the Christopher Columbus monument so its really easily navigable for tourists. There are two other metro stops along Las Ramblas as well (both Green Line, and Placa Catalunya also connects to the Red Line).  I cannot say enough good things about the Barcelona metro system.  The signs are easy to figure out, the ticket machines have an English option, and I was almost always able to get a seat. Having said that, the metro is also a prime place to get pickpocketed because (much like Las Ramblas) there are a lot of people and there are legitimate reasons for other people to touch/jostle you. So while the metro is the best way to get around the city, you have to be a little careful about where your valuables are while riding it.  If you have a backpack, swing it around in front of you; your wallet should never be in your back pocket, purses should ideally be cross-body or at the very least in front of you as well.  I like to sit on the metro with my purse in my lap and my arms folded across it.  Which is exactly the same way I sit on American public transportation. /Side note.

I decided since I hadn't since the cathedral while I was in the city before that I would stop there this time as well.  It's in Barrio Gotico just off La Rambla. Luckily I still had my free hostel map of Barcelona so it was super easy.  I also realized that I walked right behind it on my last trip to Barrio Gotico and hadn't noticed it.












What is it with water spouts coming out of statues mouths?





















Maria wanted to meet in the Fontana district for lunch.  (You should not be surprised to learn that this district can be accessed by the Green Line metro - Fontana stop!)   She told me it is her favorite part of the city, a cool, hip, artsy area with lots of placas, restaurants, and stuff going on all the time.  We finally settled on a place and had a fabulous time catching up with her new job and my adventures.  I was sad to say goodbye, but I had lingered long enough that I was going to have to hustle to make it back to the ship before it left.


She did insist on a picture before we parted.  I seriously have a "Chandler" problem in posed pictures.  I always think my "smile for the camera smile" is sooo scary.

I had purchased two 10-ride metro tickets when I was in Barcelona before I my ticket still had a couple of rides left so I let myself through the gate and left the ticket for Maria to use the remaining rides.  We said goodbye, and I headed back to the Drassanes stop.  Now, I was running late, already nervous, with no ticket, and although I'd never been stopped or asked for a ticket before when I saw two metro police walking toward me I almost panicked.  (The fine for not having a ticket is 100 Euro or something like that.) Luckily, they just walked right past me and got off at the next stop.  Whew!

Once I reached my stop, I got off and started fast-walking over to where the port bus (known as the blue bus) stop was.  I had bought a round trip ticket that morning, but I knew that if the bus wasn't right there waiting I would have to take a cab.  I ran around the corner...no bus. Again, luckily that area is lined with cabs (especially on days when cruise ships are in port) so I went to the first one, jumped in, and we flew down to (of course the very farthest away) where the Nieuw Amsterdam was docked.

As I ran through the port building it was 3:25 (all aboard was 3:30), they had shut down most of the security...only one guy at one metal detector, the camera crew (those people that take souvenir pictures of you getting on/off the ship) had already packed up and gone, and the water/towel guys had broken down their booth and were gone, and YIKES!  I was going to be on the List of Losers, I just knew it.

Let me explain, the List of Losers isn't the formal term, but every port day just after all aboard the front office will come on the PA and read of a list of names and staterooms and ask those people to contact the front office immediately.  These are the losers who either haven't made it back on board or haven't checked back in properly when they did return.  Loser List.  As I ran up the gangway and had my ship card scanned I breathlessly asked, "Am I on the Loser List?"  "Not yet, you just made it," said the crew member.  Another Whew!  The Loser List was broadcast approximately one minute later.

This is my last Barcelona entry for this trip.  I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed my time in Barcelona and would definitely recommend it for anyone planning a trip to Europe.  I heard so many negative things about it, primarily about the level of crime in the city (which mostly means pickpockets), but I never felt unsafe or worried about my surroundings.  I suppose it helped that I knew someone living in the city and could think, "Maria does this everyday and she's fine."  Or maybe as someone who has lived alone and traveled alone for a long time my general level of watchfulness and caution are greater than the average traveler, but I had zero problems in Barcelona.  I thought the city and its people were genuinely friendly, helpful, just really lovely all around.  Please visit Barcelona - I hope I will again!