Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal

 Our tour today was A Taste of the Azores, which was basically a lot of driving around and stopping at good photo spots.  We did also stop at a nice village and at a modern hotel at the end for a cheese and wine tasting.  This is a beautiful volcanic island.  The north side gets lots of rain which provides drinking water to the island and some hydroelectric power as well.

Milk production is their biggest industry followed by agriculture and fishing.  Tourism is big also. We saw a United Airlines small jet here.

Right after this photo was taken, another shipmate pointed out that there were lots of little flea-like bugs around and they were only attracted to white clothing.  There was much swatting and brushing going on for a few minutes.  I think Michael may have been a little too enthusiastic!  I didn't get bitten though so I don't know what they were.

The island is covered in hydrangea bushes.  We missed their peak bloom by a month or so, but they were still beautiful.  We were told that they use them as fences for the cattle because they don't like them and stay away.

This plant had flowers in many stages of bloom.

And this wild ginger is invasive and really taking over.  It is beautiful, though.

Lovely church in a village deep in a canyon. Black and white buildings seem to be very common here.

More beautiful tilework.

We were at a very high point of one of the mountains and saw this pretty moss growing on the trees.  This was on the rainy side of the island.

This hotel took about 8 years to build - finished in 1987 and closed for business in 1990.  It has amazing views (see photo above), but only for about 1/2 the year.  The roads weren't great in 1990 and it was difficult to get to.  Then you were sort of stuck there and if the weather was bad, you weren't happy and word got around.  It was left vacant until 2018.  Locals looted the entire place taking everything of value so it is just a shell.  A Chinese hotel company bought it in 2018 but never did anything with it, so it still just sits there.

We stopped at a pretty hotel just across from the ship to sample some cheeses and wine, both of which were very good.  Then a little souvenir hunting and back to the ship.  The weather was perfect, especially up on the mountains.  I can see why people come here for a visit.

Trivia was a record-breaking 4/15 for us.  But in our defense, the highest score won by only a couple of teams was only 10.  We all agreed the questions were exceptionally difficult.

I didn't have this photo before, but here's the gang at Prime 7 celebrating Sarah's daughter's birthday.  She wasn't there, of course, but it was the thought that counted.

We had a quiet dinner for two in Compass Rose and then called it a night.