Day 107 (Part 3 of 3) - World Cruise 2015 (Ponta Delgada, Portugal)

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Today the ship arrived in Ponta Delgada, Portugal.  Ponta Delgada is on one of the 9 Azores Islands with 140,000 on the Island that we stopped.  The Azores were discovered in 1426 AD.  I left on a tour called "Furnas Valley & Hotsprings".  The tour headed north over the island, stopping at the Sta Iria viewpoint for a vista over the North coast.  Our next stop was at a local tea plantation and factory.  Here we saw the equipment, much of it very old, that is used to process the tea leaves.  We then drove up the mountain for a great view over the Furnas Valley.  We then headed down to the lake level to see our lunch being taken out of an earthen oven in the ground where it has been cooking using natural geo-thermal power.  We returned to the cit;y for lunch at the Terra Nostra Hotel.  After lunch we visited the Tesrra Nostra Botanic Gardens among the most be beautiful gardens in the Azores.  After lunch we stopped for a visit at some hot springs in the village and then returned to Ponta Delgada to get on the ship.  During the tour we saw many milk cows.  Something unique is that in some areas portable milking machines are taken to where the cows are located.

After dinner Heather Sullivan, a singer was the show.  The ship spent the night because the access to the next scheduled port at Horta, Portugal was not possible because of the sea conditions.

Below are part 3 of some pictures of Ponta Delgada and my tour.  See part 1 and part 2 for additional pictures.

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.  These are some azalea bushes.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.  This is a cold water spring that runs all the time.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken at a stop to view a hot spring.

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken at a photo stop on the way back to the bus.

This picture was taken at a photo stop on the way back to the bus.

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the bus in Ponta Delgada, Portugal. 

This picture was taken from the bus in Ponta Delgada, Portugal.