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Old Jun 18, 2018, 12:21 pm
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ChiefNWA
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: TPA
Programs: DL Diamond, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,256


Day 1



I didn’t go into this trip with much of a plan. The viable options for this Memorial Day Weekend were a trip to Zurich (planned on renting a car and hitting Liechtenstein as well) or this trip to the Azores. The Azores are rather tourism limited for Americans as flights have been lacking from the U.S. for many years, other than rather infrequent (and expensive) service via the Azorean airline, SATA. Therefore, Delta’s new service to Ponta Delgada was very welcoming and will hopefully help showcase the island to American tourists. It certainly has the potential.



Moving on, I was one of the only standbys to be cleared on the TPA-JFK flight this day. That would’ve been a quick end to this trip. Once in JFK, I visited the grossly crowded SkyClub while waiting for the PDL flight. We were slightly delayed due to a late inbound aircraft from ATL. Since PDL is a new route, it was rather standby heavy this evening, meaning I was in economy for the flight. Not a big deal considering we were only blocked at 4:28 in the air. Once we pushed, we sat for about thirty minutes before the captain came on and advised we needed to take on more fuel as our initial diversion point (one of the other Azorean islands) was no longer an option, so we needed to fuel in the case we needed to divert to mainland Europe. This caused another one hour delay. Not a huge deal considering the early arrival time (scheduled) into PDL.





Day 2





I woke up about an hour before landing. Before I knew it, we were on final approach to PDL.





Deplaning via the rear at PDL. This was the second DL flight into PDL. The inaugural was the day prior.





I used Ilha Verde for the rental car. Got a brand new Nissan Qashdai with only 4km on the odometer.





The plan for the day was to just drive around the west side of the island and scout out some photo locations. I had two full days on the island, so rather unusually, I wasn’t super rushed.



It’s hard not to continually take pictures of the landscape considering the bright green flora and the blue ocean. Such a beautiful island.





The roads were absolutely fantastic for driving. There was very little traffic throughout both days.





The first official stop was the Coal Peak Viewpoint. I ended up picking this for the following sunrise as well.





Coal Peak Viewpoint.





The next stop was Lagoa do Canario, this was taken on the small trail on the way to the lake.





Lagoa do Canario.





Lagoa do Canario.





Moss.





The next viewpoint was the famous Miradouro da Boca do Inferno. Pictures from here are usually what’s used to advertise the Azores. Beautiful lookout and a very easy hike (even easier when the road is open to drive up to it). I would end up picking this spot for sunset this day.



Road.





A busy morning at Miradouro da Boca do Inferno.





People.





Miradouro da Boca do Inferno viewpoint.





Cattle.





A view of the city of Sete Cidales.





Greenery.





Sao Nicolau Church in Sete Cidales.





About 25 minutes later I reached Ponta da Ferraria on the far west side of the island. It has a great view of the crashing waves on the coastline.





More greenery. Noticing a trend yet?





Lunch time! Some of the best mussels I’ve ever had. They were grilled and covered in some sort of chili oil type sauce. Fantastic.





I then walked around the quaint town of Mosteiros. I must say, for an island popular with European tourists, there seemed to be exactly zero people out and about. It was like I had the whole west coast to myself. 70F weather made for a very enjoyable walk.





A horse in someone’s yard.





Mosteiros.





I then started my drive back east towards Ponta Delgada to check in to the hotel. I made a few stops on the way as the scenery simply requires it.





Greenery.





Lagoa das Empadadas.





Hotels were rather limited since I booked last minute. I ended up getting a decent rate ($73/night) at the Neat Hotel Avenida in central Ponta Delgada.



When I return to Ponta Delgada, I’ll have to spend a little bit more time in the city. It seemed quite nice with a ton of good looking restaurants.





I had seen everything on the west coast that I had planned for the day, so before dinner/sunset, I decided to drive up to one of the viewpoints towards the east side of the island.



Cattle.





Miradouro da Lagoa do Fogo. Stunning view.





Miradouro da Lagoa do Fogo.





Road.





Picked up some cod for dinner in Ponta Delgada prior to sunset.





I ended up picking Miradouro da Boca do Inferno for sunset, which meant I could also stop at Lagoa do Canario on the way. The gate to the viewpoint was closed to cars when I arrived which meant I needed to hustle for the 15-20 minutes in order to make sunset.





Sunset at Miradouro da Boca do Inferno. I forgot my tripod head and my new filters on this trip unfortunately, so taking pictures was a bit of a challenge.



Last edited by ChiefNWA; Jun 19, 2018 at 11:04 am
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