The next day was the day of our first show on the island. Most of us were quite content to just to
go for a leisurely walk, see what Ponta Delgada had to offer, then go play the show. After over a
week of complete sensory and physical overload, an 'easy' day sounded like a great idea. As I
often do when first visiting any town, I headed first toward the water, then doubled back up
through town and met everyone for soundcheck.
Ponta Delgada harbour was rather unremarkable, much like many a busy working waterfront. I
remembered that the Azores were only discovered in the 1400's, then void of anything including
people. Shortly after that it was colonized and everything on the island was brought to the island
by boat, and later by airplane. Even in the 'off-season', the harbour was still a busy place during
the week.
Where the harbour may have been rather 'normal' and unspectacular, the downtown part of the
city more than made up for it. Thinking of the problems I have laying a few patio stones outdoors
in Canada, I couldn't help but be amazed by the beauty of the ornate, perfect, stone work on
every walking or driving area in the central city. And the comical pic to the right would be your
Azorean traffic jam. There was no hustling
through town with a vehicle in Ponta Delgada.
And another thing I noticed is that on the streets
of Portugal and the Azores there is absolutely no
litter -- something again that was hard to get used
to.
Left: By mid-afternoon, we were all getting rather
tired and we headed over to the venue -- the Ist
Ponta Delgada Coliseum.
You'd think that one of us would have
remembered to tell someone that we were
coming.
Walking into this place was like stepping into
another time period -- incredible ornate
woodwork, foyers, huge arched ceilings and
rows of box balcony seats going up four to
five levels high. Even the ceiling (which was
massive) was covered in hardwood planks.
The venue was spectacular as was the sound
reproduction in the hall.
We ran over a couple of songs, checked that
everything was OK, then it was time to head
back to the hotel, eat and get changed for the
show. I'll save our performance shots for
tomorrow, our last night.
The next day, our last full day on the island, one of the
band trucks took an excursion to the west end of the
island toward Sete Cidades, where I had been a couple
of days earlier. I took a back seat and went along for
the ride, acting at times, like a bit of a tour guide.
Unlike my travel day, this group actually stopped for
food and drink. The colours on the roadside cafe stop
above were hard not to notice.
Again, the scenery was gorgeous. This trip went back
into the crater from the opposite side that I had done.
The sky was clear earlier in the day and I was able to
see some of the scenery that I had missed on my trip.
We arrived at the narrow causeway that separated
the Blue and Green Lakes at the bottom of the
crater and, as we had seen happen a number of
times since we arrived on the island, within
minutes, the clouds rolled in low just above the
water level. It was amazing how quickly the
weather could change in the Azores. We stayed
here for quite a while, admiring the beauty of the
place, then headed out of the crater toward the far
eastern side of the island and a town that I saw
from a distance on my trip. The clouds lifted again
for us as we made out way up the side of the crater
and over the top edge of the crater.
I had seen the rocks
offshore at Mosteiros from
high up on the side of the
crater in my trip, but today,
we went down into town and
spent some time meeting a
few locals (very friendly and
nice people, I might add)
and wandering around down
along the shore. Some of
the black lava rocks, were
remarkably light in weight --
almost like balsa wood.
We finished our driving day early and headed back to the hotel in Ponta Delgada
to eat and get ready for our
final show on the tour. After
nearly two weeks of
gorgeous scenery, excellent
food, accomodation and
everything else, countless
hours of practise in Canada
before the tour, and four
shows previously, this last
night promised to be one of
those nights that would be
remembered for a long time
by band and audience alike.
Not really a lot to say here that the pictures don't show. Let's just say
that we won't be forgetting that show for a while.
Final curtain call as the band waves good-bye to Ponta Delgada and our Portugal Tour.
Off toward the mall with Greg
The last day on the island saw everyone scatter
again, as we all headed out to see all the last-
minute things, pick up souvenirs of the trip, etc.
Some went out to try to find the mall, some down
into town to the food, wine and curio shops. For
myself, I tagged along with the group heading to
the mall for a while, then decided to head down
into town for one last look at the waterfront. There
was too, a church, high up on the hill in the middle
of town that I wanted to see.
I stayed with the group heading to the mall for a
few more blocks before I headed back down the
hill toward the waterfront. Here, to the left, is one
of the residential streets in Ponta Delgada, and to
the right, the view over the fence into the back
yard. The gardens in this town were quite
spectacular at times.
Below: I headed to the waterfront by way of some
of the less-traveled streets. By the time I got to the
waterfront, there was what looked like a cruise ship
or ferry in the harbour, but everywhere else, during
midweek, this was definitely a working waterfront,
even in the off-season.
I wandered around the harbour for a while and then
stumbled on a Military Museum. I paid my 2 Euro fee
and went in.
Although cannons and guns are not really my 'thing', I
was reminded of the location of the island in the mid-
Atlantic and the need for protection during colonial times
from various raiding groups and pirates.
On one of the wall plaques, I read that Christopher
Columbus had stopped here during one of his voyages to
the New World and was imprisoned. Apparently, the
islanders thought he was a pirate.
I could see the church from almost everywhere
in the city, but finding the road that would take
me up there was a bit of a task. Finally I
climbed the last steps and went out on the
church grounds to take some pictures.
From my view on the church grounds, I could
see in all directions on the island -- it was well
worth the climb up to the church. I could see
north past the residential part of the city to the
central mountainous area, along the southern
shore in both directions from my trip a few
days ago, and down to the harbour, marina
and breakwater.
It was mid-afternoon when I got back to the
hotel and packed up my things. There were
still a few hours to go before we left to catch
our plane and I ran into Carlo and Sabby who
were heading out to a nearby golf course to
hit a few balls. I figured that rather than
falling asleep in the lobby of the Holiday Inn,
I could just as well fall asleep in the back of
the van. So off I went with them.
Of course, once we got to the golf course
and I saw how beautiful was the setting,
there were no thoughts of sleeping in the
back of the van.
Above: To a golfer, having your picture taken at
the first hole and by the leaderboard of a PGA
Tour stop is rather important.
All good things must
come to and end, and
now it was time to make
our way to the Ponta
Delgada airport. We flew
out in the early evening
and made our way back
to a hotel across the
courtyard from the Casino
Estoril to stay the night.
Our flight back to Canada
was not leaving until
tomorrow morning.
I didn't take a lot of pictures
at the airport when it was
time to say good-bye (I
really hate saying good-bye
to people) -- but I did want
to get a picture of Sabby,
our tour director who'd become such a good
friend to all of us on the tour. Here, he's
pictured with Pete and Sharon.