Summer of 23 - Transatlantic Cruise - Day 7 - The Azores - Ribiera Grande

 Sunday May 7th, 2023

Today we docked at Ponta Delgada, on San Miguel Island, in the Azores. We decided to do an excursion from the ship. I'll break this trip into two blogs.

We had instructions to be at the theatre on the ship at a certain time.  When we got there we were divided into our different groups and sat in separate rows.  There were several coaches going on the same excursion.  We were on coach #4 and I believe there were a total of 8 coaches doing this excursion, so a lot of people. Our tour guide met us at the coach and we were soon on our way.  He was very good, telling us about the island and the culture, landscape, flora and fauna. 

Here are some pictures we took from the coach on the way to our first stop.

                               

Just out for a ride!!!

It was a beautiful ride.

Our first stop was Ribiera Grande, which was the town that our guide lived in. He told us we could either go around with him, or do our own thing. We had 30 minutes. We like to do our own thing as it means we get to see what we want to, but we did follow him. We lagged behind a little as we take a little longer getting pictures, but it worked out well as we could always see where the group were and so knew which direction to go.

Bryan caught me taking a picture

This was the picture!!

Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Estrela Church

Looking down over the town from the church

We walked down the steps to the square below.

There's the tower I was taking a picture of before, next to the church

Thanks to Wikipedia

Gaspar Frutuoso
Born	c. 1522 Ponta Delgada (Azores), Kingdom of Portugal
Died	24 August 1591 (aged 68–69) Ribeira Grande (Azores), Kingdom of Portugal
Occupation	Priest
Language	Portuguese
Alma mater	University of Coimbra
Period	1696–1717
Genre	History, Geography, Ethnography
Subject	Azores, Theology, Philosophy
Notable works	Saudades da Terra ''Saudades do Céu
Relatives	Frutuoso Dias (father) Isabel Fernandes (mother)

"Gaspar Frutuoso (c. 1522 – 1591) was a Portuguese priest, historian and humanist from the island of São Miguel, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. His major contribution to Portuguese history was his detailed descriptions of the history and geography of the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and references to Cape Verde, which he published in his six-part tome Saudades da Terra, as well as Saudades do Céu. He is normally cited in settlement history of the islands of the Azores."

There were some interesting and wonderful murals.

excavations

There was a square where they were having a flower festival. The trees were decorated and music was playing, people were dancing. It was a lovely atmosphere.

The main group ahead of us

There was a lovely park area with a play area, stream and waterfalls. 

The stream continued through the village.

We packed a lot into our 30 minutes and thanks to our guide saw many varied parts of the town in a small area.

We got back on the coach to our next stop...... The Terra Nostra Gardens. That'll be in the next blog........