Sunday, 15th March, Ponta Delgado, The Azores, 14 degrees

It was dark and the sky was moody this morning. Some early exercise was required as we are off on a tour all day. We went out to do some promenade deck walking as the Aurora was coming into dock. There were fishing boats setting sail.

There was a sailing boat moored up opposite us on the quay and we captured a rather dramatic sky moment before we adjourned for breakfast.

It was then back for a quick shower and making a decision on what to wear. We have descended from a warm 26 degrees to a cool 14 degrees over the last 7 days. A tricky one clothes wise, but I think those summer numbers can go away for a few months!

Yet another new 30 people on our bus! I cannot believe we have reached this stage of the trip and can still come across people we have never set eyes on before! It is absolutely extraordinary.

We left Ponta Delgado where we were moored to travel to the north of the Sao Miguel island, one of the 9 islands that make up the Azores. It was a pretty grey day. We headed first to Ribeiro Grande. This is a small industrial town on the coast. The Azores are Portuguese volcanic islands that lie 870 miles west of Lisbon. There is a lot of evidence of the volcanic rock along the sea shore and in the older buildings in town. We left the coach and took a wander around the town. The island is very religious with 98% of the population Catholic as evidenced by the religious plaques over many of the doors of the small town houses we passed.

The streets were very narrow and the coach had some difficulty getting through, particularly as some houses had balconies. We clambered up to the church which gave us a good view over the town.

We got back into the coach, but by the time we had reached the viewpoint literally about 10 minutes away a sea mist had come down so there wasn’t too much of a view – taints of Rio but cooler!!

Our next stop was a tea plantation. It sounded a bit unlikely as we last saw tea on a warm sunny day in southern India, but there it was Cha Gorreana with its tea plants growing up the hillside.

Cha Gorreana was established in the late 1800’s and has been owned by the same family ever since. Much of the equipment dated back to the original owner too! Marshals of Gainsborough (Lincolnshire) seemed to be the supplier both to the Azores and India from the labels on the machinery. (Although the machinery is English/Indian the tea is distinctly Chinese in flavour – to my tastebuds anyway. Ed)

There was a lively shop selling the wares, my tea sampling representative – Keith – did the tasting as I am not a tea person and reported back that it wasn’t the solid breakfast tea he likes but the broken leaf variety was ‘nice’. Damned by faint praise methinks!

Our next stop was the volcanic lake at Furnas. By now the sky had lightened up. I have to say that the scenery outside of the towns is very much like Derbyshire we thought. Farming is one of the main occupations of the Azores and in addition to growing tea and raising cattle, they grow pineapples on the Azores. Another ‘who knew’ for me.

From the lake we travelled down to Furnas Village to our lunch stop. Here we were to experience the Cacido or volcanic method of cooking. More specifically we were going to have Cozidos das Furnas a world renowned speciality. The technique involves lowering large metal pots into hand dug holes in the steaming earth. The ingredients are layered strategically to ensure even cooking. Once the pot is full it is sealed and then lowered into the hole on ropes and buried under a mound of volcanic soil. There is no added water or oil, the ingredients cook in their own juices for six to seven hours. It was delicious!

We had a bowl of soup to start our meal, the Cozidos and then locally grown pineapple for afters all washed down with a very lovely red wine. Author’s note: I have been reliably informed by a reputable mate of mine that Russian Tsars would only drink Azorean wine and now I know why. It is first class!! Only problem was that it was very drinkable and went down far too easily. (A really memorable meal. Ed)

There was another of those very nice churches in the village.

We left Furnas village and moved on to the Botanical Gardens, of which they are rightly proud. It is amazing. We were advised to head for the camellias and although they were a bit rain battered they were sensational and were only to be bettered – we were to find out – by the orchids.

However before we got that far there was an old Ironwood tree from Australia.

And a thermal pool that was quite hot and had a lot of people in it, despite it looking a bit brown.

And now for my horticultural audience – the most beautiful flowers.

First the Camillias, and then the crème de la crème of the orchids

Wow! What can I say. They were amazing!!

There were other lovely things but the camellias and the orchids just took our breath away.

Sadly we had to depart, but it was an incredible place made possible by the very equable climate. We could have spent hours there! The botanical garden was first started in 1780 and there are now 12.5 hectares of exotic plants. An absolute joy!

Next stop was the hot springs – another interesting phenomena! This place even had steam coming out of its drains and manhole covers!!

I wonder if this is how you would see these sort of things in Iceland!?! It was a truly memorable day. We had one final stop which felt a little bit of an anti climax in the light of everything else we had seen, but it was somehow quite soothing to be brought back down to earth!!

What a day!! I think we both felt physically and mentally exhausted by what we had seen and experienced. I had referred to the day as our ‘last hurrah’ and I think it was just that. Our last outing of the trip.

We had already agreed that we did not need to go to supper tonight after our delicious lunch, but when we got back to our room there was a plate of cakes and chocolates described as a Thank You for cruising with them from Food and Beverage Team – so we definitely didn’t need to eat again this evening.

And now we set off on our last leg home!