SV Inishnee: Sao Miguel, Azores 2017

Sao Miguel

An over night passage, 90 miles. The largest of the Azorean isles.

Another festival and touring.

Divino Espirito Santos: Brother Hood of the Divine Holy Spirit. Very similar to the San Joaninas festival. Religious overtones, food and parades.

Ponta Delgado hosts the Grandes Festas for the entires island, the local communities having celebrated individually. For 4 nights the city of Ponta Delgado the capitol of the Azores celebrates. Live music. Food. and parades. Unlike our last parade experience… Sao Miguel’s parade is long. Hours long. Each village brings a contingent of floats, oxen and carts and locals dressed in traditional clothing. And Bread. and wine. Each of these festivals revolve around some sort of community event and “feeding the poor” as was done by Queen Isabela.

Many floats depicted rural life then and now. Growing and harvesting grains. Oxen plowing fields and transporting goods. People eating, playing and worshipping.

A car rental was hard to secure due to it being the high season and the festival. Two day minimum the norm.

The seashore less spectacular than the other islands, the interior is where it’s at… The forests, cut long ago, can be spotted on the steepest of hill sides. Too much for man or beast to tame. Gorges and ravines cut the landscape to the sea. Pastures and villages where land cultivation permissible.

Sao Miguel has many thermal springs which have been harnessed for human consumption. A geothermal plant provides heat and power. For pleasure, several ‘spas’. A short walk up a paved ravine, and 2 euro’s each. The upper spa not so warm. The middle spa too hot to handle! The lower spa… just right! Mama bear is happy

The Ponta da Ferraria; perfect. bliss. found at the end of the road, down a steep switch back. and free though you can pay for the upscale pool… we opted for free. Follow the manmade path to the lava flow at the sea shore. Find a spot to leave your towels. tread lightly across the somewhat smooth flow to the spa… heated volcanic waters flows into the sea, best at low tide. Several ropes help to keep your footing and place with the ocean serge. Heated water washes past with the outgoing serge. The incoming serge brings cool, sea water back. In and out. in and out. over and over. warm and cool washing over you as you grip the ropes and drift. This is Kathy’s NEW favorite place…

Sao Miguel is famous for Lagos das Sete Cidades. Twin lakes in the middle of a massive extinct volcanic crater. One appearing blue and one green; in the right light, read sunny day… with cloud cover the brochure images will have to suffice.

Among the many riches Sao Miguel has to offer, they have several tea plantations. Kathy, having drank a lot of tea in her life time had little clue how it was grown, harvested etc. The tea hedges grow close together, less than a foot. Enough space for a harvesting machine to pass between and cut the outer leaves off. Some are dried on tarps for the tourists to see, the majority in machines in a large warehouse. The tea leaves are separated from debris by hand. Several women sorting and picking. Packaging is automated. Some green jasmine Cha (tea), cut-leaves made it home to Inishnee.

Handicrafts can be purchased everywhere. Glazed terra-cotta pottery. Weavings. Hand and machine embroidered kitchen towels and potholders. Cork (from the mainland) purses. Volcanic stone jewelry… and cheese… lots of cheese and sausages and grass fed meats. Vegetables and fruits.

We, Jim and Kathy, celebrated 23 years of partnership at Azor, a 5 star restaurant. We did a walk through before actually committing to a meal. Pretty stinkin’ fancy. A conversation with the host assured us we had appropriate clothes to wear and consulting the menu… we could afford it too! dishes ranging from $10 euro to nearly $50… A glass meat locker displaying the age beef, their specialty. Dinner was fantastic. A fitting end to our stay in the islands. Time in the ’Schengen’ is ticking away so we must move on… More on the Schengen later! The crew an Inishnee are making ready for the passage to the mainland of Portugal…