May 4th, 2023 Day 121 of 128

Ponta Delgada, Portugal

Good morning from Portugal….again. We have come full circle and have returned to Portugal but instead of being on the mainland, we are in the Azores. They were the third group of islands discovered. The first being the Canary Islands, next being the Medina islands, and then the Azores. Today we were up early and grabbed something to eat from the Neptune lounge. Then we headed to the Rolling stone lounge to meet the Cruise Specialist group for our last excursion with them for the trip. It is bittersweet continuing with some of our lasts, and soon to be goodbyes. But we still have a couple more adventures ahead. We drove to the town of Funas where we drove through the downtown area. We then parked and had about 30 minutes to get out and take some photos and walked around the area. Our next stop was the Cha Correana Tea plantation. We learned how the grown and process 450 tons of tea here every year. From the same plant, based on the way it is processed, they produce black tea, green tea and orang pekoe tea. All the sorting of tea is still done by hand here. The work is done by the local women and the plant employees a large number of people from the area. We got to sample their teas, were given a delicious piece of pineapple cake and had the bonus of a most spectacular rainbow. It is the lowest lying rainbow I have ever seen. It was unique and breathtaking. Next we headed to the Terra Nostra Gardens. This is the islands largest botanical garden and there is also a very large thermal pool. Megan and I had came prepared and wore our swimsuits under our clothing. The majority of our group went and toured the garden while she and I opted for a leisurely 30 minute soak in the pool. There was a high level of iron oxide in this water which gives the water a strange organ color. It smelled slightly of sulphur. As a nice souvenir we carried that smell around with us for the rest of they as well. My hair and our skin smelled of rust. But it was totally worth it. We did a quick beach change poolside and were ready to head to lunch with the rest of the group by the time they were done in the gardens. We walked a short distance to a banquet hall where we had a delicious three course meal. We were served a potato soup with kale and linguica. Our next course was family style platters filled with Blood sausage, linguica, chicken, beef, pork, yams, sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, cabbage rolls and rice. For dessert were served a large slice of locally grown pineapple. A lighter colored and sweeter pineapple than we are used to. It was quite similar to Maui Gold pineapple. We were served sodas and we tried a local passionfruit soda and then both red and white wine. It was a lovely meal and we were beyond full by the time we left. Then we were back on the bus and off to the hot springs, the source of the thermal pool. These hot springs were actually boiling, releasing steam and there was a very strong smell of sulphur in the air. After a photos stop there we were back on the bus and off to the pineapple plantation. Because of the weather here, pineapples are all grown in greenhouses. It was a different perspective of production than we had seen before. You make accommodations for the the climate you are in so you can have the produce you desire. And the weather here is definitely unpredictable. We started the day getting rained on as we stepped off the ship, at one point we were absolutely sweating, and then we were getting rained on again. We were back to the ship, full and dry around 4:30pm. The ship was originally supposed to leave around 4:30pm, but since our next port is so close, they extended our stay here until 9:30pm. We had time to shower and wash the metallic smell off our bodies before we met Gail and Marty for dinner at 6:00pm at the Tamarind pop up restaurant. In true fellowship, we were at dinner with them till about 9:30pm. We absolutely love their company and will miss them tremendously when we get off in a week. But I’m not going to think about that yet!! By the time we finished dinner it was time to get ready for bed as our alarm in set for 6:30am tomorrow for another excursion. We snuggled in and I laid there and thought about the espresso I had at lunch today. Eventually I will sleep. Until tomorrow. HUGS!!