Ponta Delgada and the starting point of our Azores adventure! The Azores are a group of 9 volcanic Portuguese islands located in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. Ponta Delgada is the capital of the Azores archipelago and is located on São Miguel island, the largest and the most populated.
Chris and I met friends Roza & Russell and Flo & Mike at Heathrow airport T5 for our direct flight to San Miguel island ready for a week of fun and of trekking and of eating a-plenty (and not necessarily in that order).
Our itinerary:
- Day 1: Arrive in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel island
- Day 2: Fly to Pico island
- Day 3: Pico road trip
- Day 4: Hiking Pico
- Day 5: Fly to São Miguel island and visit Furnas
- Day 6: Trekking Sete Cidades
- Day 7: São Miguel road trip
- Day 8: Lagoa and home
Our flight had arrived in mid afternoon and after a short pre-booked people carrier transfer to our central Ponta Delgada hotel, the 6 of us set out in the 22 degree sunshine in search of a beverage! We walked for a short distance and soon found several open air bars in the centre of town. Following our 3 x beers and 3 x glasses of wine (between us) we set off to explore our surroundings.
Portas da Cidade are 18th century archways which are the city gate monuments.
In the central square, the Catholic Sao Sebastiao church was built between 1531 – 1547.
We came across this unique sardine shop which sold a huge range of types of sardine tins, for example, smoked sardines, spicy sardines, sardines with mustard, eel sardines, lobster sardines etc. The prices were not cheap and ranged from around 8 euros to 15 euros and above for each tin.
The decorative black and white mosaic patterns of the pavement stones are a typical Portuguese feature and one I was familiar with from past visits to Portuguese places such as Lagos, Lisbon, Porto and even Macau, the former Portuguese colony of China.
Before long it started to get dark and after a quick Google search we were fortunate to find a fab pizza restaurant.
We had found ‘Nonnas Teeth and Tomatoes’ and with its impressive Google maps review score of 4.7 we were not disappointed. I had a ‘Nonnina’ with beetroot cream, zucchini, brie, basil and a fig compote and walnuts and it was delicious. Rather than cutlery we were each supplied with a pair of scissors to cut our pizzas!
Hotel Antillia
We were delighted with our choice of accommodation as we spent the first and only night in Ponta Delgada in the Antillia hotel. I had booked 3 x double rooms and each couple had a spacious suite with a large bedroom, a separate lounge and a kitchen/diner. Complete with a complimentary bottle of wine! For £88 per room (excluding breakfast) for this centrally located and comfortable hotel, I would 100% stay here again.
Summary
For our first afternoon and evening we had a lovely introduction to the Azores. With its laid back vibe, good selection of bars and restaurants and reasonable prices, Ponta Delgada is well worth a visit. Our visit was only short as first thing tomorrow morning, we set off for Pico island!
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