Day 1 of the holidays is really only half a day as we arrive mid-afternoon to blue, clear skies on this green island that is Sao Miguel. We take a cab from the airport to the Hotel Canadiano, which is nicely located only a few minutes walk from the city centre. So far we have noticed that the streets have rather funny but descriptive names – when translating, we live in “the counter’s street” and not far from here is the “Colonel Key street”. Not sure what keys this refers to, but undoubtedly important ones.
Since booking the trip- and starting the trip- we had to do make a few adaptations; as now we are travelling with an unborn little passenger. As such, we spend the first day taking it easy, making a few plans and preparations. (For example we will be visiting a pineapple plantation instead of vineyards. We also realise that climbing Mount Pico may just be a little bit too optimistic).
We have made arrangement to rent a car for the next two days (€40 per day) and will take a drive to Sete Cidades tomorrow. After walking around in Ponta Delgada, which is a quite nice little town, we finished with a fish meal at the marina at Mercado do Peixe, which served nice food and a lot of local fish. My issue with the place, however, is the endangered species found on the menu…
Strolling along the marina on the way back to the hotel, we also came across a football game – all fenced inn to ensure no footballs being kicked astray and into the atlantic.
Football match in Ponta Delgada
So far it all seems good:
- the climate: sunny not too hot
- the city: not drowned in tourism even though there are some of us here
- the surrounding areas? TBC. Tomorrow.