Ponta Delgada – Travels with my Wife

BA Plane 14.6.25

Time to return home. In view of our experiences we felt we would treat ourselves to a little more luxury and have booked lunch at Vila Galé in Ponta Delgada and arrange for a taxi to take us to the hotel. Vila Galé was the attractive looking hotel close to the fort which we spotted earlier in the week.

It is very different to our earlier hotel and the swimming pool looks to have plenty of sunbeds! It has a jazz and soul bar and we manage to obtain a drink – the poor girl has to run down from the restaurant and we follow her back up there for our lunch.

We do see a small number of other guests in the hotel – mainly coming and going – but absolutely no-one around the pool (not a surprise as it has rained earlier) and perhaps more surprisingly there is no-one dining either! They are obviously expecting people at some point as they are putting out a huge number of plates and bowls around the buffet areas (although no food is seen). However we have an airport to reach.

I am not sure they were expecting much in the way of dining guests until much later (for around 10 minutes we could find no-one at all) and the food is obviously cooked fresh although perhaps not as good as I had hoped – however no worse than the last hotel.

Another taxi takes us to the adjacent airport where we find that the inbound flight from Heathrow is late – it was delayed leaving Heathrow because the Red Arrows were flying overhead for the King’s Birthday. Recovery on tight turnrounds is never possible and we end back at Heathrow about 35 minutes later than planned. On the outward journey we were surprised to find that we had to wind our watches back an hour as Ponta Delgada is that much further west than the UK. Except I am so used to winding my watch back on return flights from Europe by an hour – which I do on leaving on Ponta Delgada, so when we do a time check at Heathrow it is two hours later than it says on my watch. Completely confused.

At Heathrow T5 we are at the C gates and have a huge wait for a shuttle as only one appears to be running and yet despite not going smoothly through passport control our bags have not arrived (most of the fellow passengers have long gone) and it seems ages before Jackie’s case eventually materialises. Then upward to pod parking and homeward.

City Gates 8.6.25

Following breakfast we head out to have a wander around the centre of Ponta Delgada and rather than ignore it I will admit that we followed the guidance of Kitty at:

https://kittymeetsworld.com/short-walking-tour-ponta-delgada/

Although not arriving by cruise liner (unlike Kitty) our hotel is at the Eastern end of the docks / marina area overlooking a collection of restaurants which has been built in the bay so we have a little way to walk to the City Gates along the front, where the described tour commences.

The isle of Sao Miguel was uninhabited when a small fishing village was established at Santa Clara in around 1444 and is the largest island of the Azores island group which consists of nine islands – which are spread quite widely. The weather is close to mediterranean but with warmer winters due to the Gulf Stream and generally higher rainfall leading to the obviously green and lush pastures supporting around 30000 cows (with a slight preponderance of bull beef cattle over milk production). There are more cows than people on the island.

The City Gates now stand some way back from the waterfront, as post WWII a huge area in front of the gates all along the front was reclaimed to form a dual carriageway road and significant new building construction (no doubt at premium prices). The older buildings are therefore set a little way back from the current edge of the port and westwards from the Town Gates a large area has been pedestrianised and it is easy largely flat walking so we have no need to hurry as we pass the Gates, Churches, Town Hall and a sanctuary before finally reaching the fort. Along the way we note some interesting restaurants and a fado establishment but we are unable it enjoy the music on this visit.

In the corner of Campo de São Francisco we note a smart looking hotel Vila Galé and so we now have a small number of reasons for a potential return visit to the island. There is also a Dotto train, although we completely fail to find the ticket selling cabin, even though it supposed to be bright green.

WW1 Memorial 8.6.25

After visiting the first war memorial at the fort we return towards our hotel along the front largely at the lower level where we pass some more restaurants and some floating “units” like caravans which are a little different. We reach a busy bar and restaurant in time for drink and a spot of lunch.

Close to the Airport 8.6.25

And we know we are very close to the airport!

In the evening we eat in the Balcony restaurant in the hotel – it is both convenient and we were sure of it being available on the Monday evening. This was good and it is good not to be on the diet that we are at home.

Tag: Ponta Delgada

Azores 14.6.25

Azores 8.6.25