We spent last week in the Azores, courtesy of Suzanne’s organizational skills, Erik’s driving skills, and the kids’ school vacation.
It was beautiful. The Azores are a group of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic. The temperature was 50s and 60s F. We were on Sao Miguel island only. I have a lot of pictures to show you, crossing my fingers that you like derelict buildings as much as I do. There were plenty of spiffy modern buildings — some probably vacation homes for people who can handle frequent air travel — but for me, the crumbling, mossy ones were more picturesque.
The entrance to the “magic tree” park features a lion gate. The lions are made in the local ceramics factory, where we bought tiles. The flower is bird-of-paradise.
We loved the volcanic hot springs everywhere. Some family members went in a muddy one (muddy from iron in the water). It was about the temperature of a hot tub, 102 F. I joined them when they tried the clear hot springs. Fences protected visitors from the boiling ones.
The streets are very narrow. I couldn’t imagine getting in an out of the green garage door below. The sidewalks are nearly nonexistent, and everything stops when the fish van with its loud horn gets stuck behind a grocer loading boxes.
The cemetery was unlike any I have seen before. Nearby, I saw cows grazing. There are more cows than people in the Azores (125,000 as of 2020). Wonderful cheeses. I think I have identified the main dairy cows as Holstein Friesians.
The grotto is in Porta Delgada in one of the many botanical gardens (really the whole island was a botanical garden). Next is the tea plantation, the only one in Europe (Europe because the Azores are part of Portugal).
Check out the close-up of the ubiquitous volcanic rock, basalt, used for everything. Water and gases in lava formed the fossil bubbles. The black ornamentation on churches and chapels is “basaltic relief.”
Many homes have early morning bread deliveries that get hung on doorknobs or left on the doorsill.
My granddaughter, 8, edited the photo of a market’s fruit baskets.
Nearly every home has some kind of saint watching over it, in the form of a ceramic plaque handmade in the factory on Sao Miguel.
A phone booth had been turned into a little library in Porta Delgada.
Nasturtiums, poppies, fresh-air laundry, moss. I worked hard at capturing one of each of these common sights.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
As Jimmy would say, här är en karamell att suga på. 💗
LOL.
What a great tourist testimonial! Lots of fun photos, and I assume you ate a lot of fish!
Goodness, yes. It’s Fish Central!
Thank you for the great blog and many nice pictures from the vacation! Great to see all the interesting things and different angles that you captured. Sharing with Margareta who really enjoys your blog and will be happy to see additional pictures from the vacation.
Best, Erik
It just scratched the surface. I didn’t even touch on all the hiking your intrepid crew tackled.
What a beautiful, beautiful place! How wonderful that you were able to go. And I love the idea of fresh bread hanging on the door in the morning.
And the noisy truck that a housewife hails so the driver can open the back to sell fresh-caught fish.
Great photos. I really got a sense of place.
Wish I knew Portuguese. At least I picked up a few words.
Thanks for sharing. Wonderful photos
Erik was brave driving those roads!
Eu gosto muito de suas fotos lindas! –Lovely post, CE! So glad you had this holiday!
Yes, it’s been a while between holidays like that!
Wonderful photos! I love time-worn buildings too, especially the pinkish one with the paint partially coming off.
Wasn’t that something?!
Beautiful photos, looks like a great trip!! 😍
Now if it could just be done without the use of airports, I’d be doing it regularly!
The Azores look gorgeous and fascinating. I think your photographs are visually stunning — all of them. Those Portuguese were really bold mariners when one considers the distance out in the middle of the Atlantic of both the Azores and farther south, Cape Verde
Yes. Amazing. And it’s nice to know they weren’t bumping out anyone who was living there already.
Love the photos. Looks like a very picturesque place. Thanks so much. Sibby
Thank *you* for reading! I was in a big hurry to get it all down my first day back. Didn’t even get out of pjs till lunchtime.
What a wonderful experience to see your fascinating and excellent photos with great descriptions. Certainly, I would have loved to be there to enjoy the cheeses, the flowers, the basalt, the hot soaks, etc. Perhaps we will make it there someday. Thank you so much for sharing, Kris and Bill
I hope you get there. We were lucky on the weather. April is often foggy or rainy, but we had been warned and were prepared. There was really only one day of serious rain and one of fog on a part of the island we visited. Nothing slowed us down.
From the account and photos it seems that you all had a great time in S. Miguel!
Yes. Wish I could have seen your farm, too. I love reading about your life there.
Thanks!
This little peek into your stay was wonderful!! Enjoyed it !!!!!
It really was special. I haven’t done a big trip like that in quite a few years.