Dear friends.....in my lifetime, I have traveled to over 32 places on this planet earth - am not counting the "little trips" to Pittsburgh, Maine - am counting: Alaska, Hawaii, Canada (a LOT of places in Canada!!), Bahamas, Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Guam, Philippines, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, India, "Kashmir", Sri Lanka (of course!), Maldive Islands, Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, Italy, Greece, what was then "Yugoslavia" (Bosnia, Herzogovinia, Slovenia, etc.).....and THEN we went to the Azores this August.
I have to tell you, dear friends, that the Azores are the MOST BEAUTIFUL place we've ever been in our lifetime. Not only is the scenery almost idyllic and surreal in its beauty, but we especially loved the Azorean people. There is, by the way, a "look" about them that distinguishes them from many other Europeans...and it's a complimentary "look" - they look capable, sturdy, HAPPY, efficient, polite - they have a "look" of people who have been making things run in their islands for centuries and making them run WELL!!! And then there is the Azorean personality - you will NEVER, EVER find on this earth better people than the Azoreans. They don't rush up to you - it's not their way (they respect your privacy far too much) - but if you ever approach them to ask directions, curious questions or to recommend a restaurant - they will not only draw you a diagram (to make sure you understand) but sometimes will even jump in their car/truck and ask you to FOLLOW them! We love these people with all our hearts and have never seen better people in all this world.
Mahatma Gandhi once said "one can judge a nation by the way they treat their animals" - then Azores is WAY UP THERE!!! - we saw person upon person walking their pet - looking at the pet lovingly in their eyes. They not only walked their pets, they TALKED to them and every village seemed to have a store of pets for buying pet food, "chews", collars or other things for pets. There is a Humane Society there and may fliers suggested that people ADOPT rather than "shop" (i.e., buy pets).
We never met a single person in Azores who was curt or rude. ALL were helpful, kind and courteous. Many, MANY photos will follow this post (we took over 700 photos, so we'll have to edit - that will take time).
Will we RETURN - you KNOW we will!!!! We photographed one church in Vila Franca do Campo that had Jewish "menorahs" outside - having read the history of the islands, sometimes many Jews (during Spanish Inquisition) fled to the Azores (although a part of what was then Catholic Portugal) because the locals were so tolerant of all faiths. Yes, I can see that well....because locals ARE accepting and tolerant of all.
Cannot even begin to tell you what it was like to see dolphins and sperm whales in the wild - where they were MEANT to be....rather than forming "stupid tricks" for even MORE STUPID humans paying to see such tricks. It was great to see them in the wild.
We're not bird-watchers but at night we had a symphony of terns who cry out like babies. In the morning we were greeted by sweet songbirds (MUST find out their names!!) - who sang to us (more likely to their mates!) for almost hours.
There were hydrangeas growing like weeds, birds of paradise, tree ferns and greenhouses full of pineapples. The pineapples in Azores are indeed SPECIAL - they let them grow naturally for 2-1/2 years, and must move them in 3 stages to their final growing destination. They use no pesticides - all is organic. I tell you that we have never tasted SWEETER pineapple in our lives.
God willing - we are going to return NEXT year and God willing - if we win the Lotto - we would go there even more often.
Can you believe that JUST before we left we read DREADFUL things about SATA (the Azorean airline) - we half-expected the airline hosts and hostesses to SLAP us along the way after what we read - but SATA is a really GREAT airline - their safety record is TOPS and everyone WE met (from ground agents to hosts/hostesses) were courteous and nice to us. Oh, and their pilots are so, so skilled - those runways are short but they take off and land really, really well.
Do you know what I LOVE about the Azoreans (besides them being polite, nice, kind and helpful?) - their INNOCENCE!!! Every time we landed on SATA airlines - EVERYONE in the plane CLAPPED - of course the pilot can't hear that, but it is (the clapping) a sign of a far more innocent time. I CAN remember going to a cinema in another country and hearing an audience CLAP when it was a good film. I think Americans lost a bit of their innocence when they stopped clapping (for films and good landings).
And of course - we tried local "lapas" (pronounced "lapash") - they WERE delicious albeit a bit on the rubbery side but we were glad to have tried them. The LAST night we were there - we were recommended to a really lovely restaurant called Cais 20 in San Roque (VERY much pronounced as in FRENCH!!!) - Nando had a kebab of "pulpo" (octopus) w/ shrimp (JUMBO!!) over veggies. I chose the monkfish kebab w/ shrimp over veggies - we shared - the seafood was GRILLED and so, so delicious and fresh!!!
PROMISE that photos will come. As far as we are concerned - Azores are the BEST place on this planet, also one of the cleanest places I've ever seen!!!
Dear friends.....in my lifetime, I have traveled to over 32 places on this planet earth - am not counting the "little trips" to Pittsburgh, Maine - am counting: Alaska, Hawaii, Canada (a LOT of places in Canada!!), Bahamas, Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Guam, Philippines, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, India, "Kashmir", Sri Lanka (of course!), Maldive Islands, Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, Italy, Greece, what was then "Yugoslavia" (Bosnia, Herzogovinia, Slovenia, etc.).....and THEN we went to the Azores this August.
I have to tell you, dear friends, that the Azores are the MOST BEAUTIFUL place we've ever been in our lifetime. Not only is the scenery almost idyllic and surreal in its beauty, but we especially loved the Azorean people. There is, by the way, a "look" about them that distinguishes them from many other Europeans...and it's a complimentary "look" - they look capable, sturdy, HAPPY, efficient, polite - they have a "look" of people who have been making things run in their islands for centuries and making them run WELL!!! And then there is the Azorean personality - you will NEVER, EVER find on this earth better people than the Azoreans. They don't rush up to you - it's not their way (they respect your privacy far too much) - but if you ever approach them to ask directions, curious questions or to recommend a restaurant - they will not only draw you a diagram (to make sure you understand) but sometimes will even jump in their car/truck and ask you to FOLLOW them! We love these people with all our hearts and have never seen better people in all this world.
Mahatma Gandhi once said "one can judge a nation by the way they treat their animals" - then Azores is WAY UP THERE!!! - we saw person upon person walking their pet - looking at the pet lovingly in their eyes. They not only walked their pets, they TALKED to them and every village seemed to have a store of pets for buying pet food, "chews", collars or other things for pets. There is a Humane Society there and may fliers suggested that people ADOPT rather than "shop" (i.e., buy pets).
We never met a single person in Azores who was curt or rude. ALL were helpful, kind and courteous. Many, MANY photos will follow this post (we took over 700 photos, so we'll have to edit - that will take time).
Will we RETURN - you KNOW we will!!!! We photographed one church in Vila Franca do Campo that had Jewish "menorahs" outside - having read the history of the islands, sometimes many Jews (during Spanish Inquisition) fled to the Azores (although a part of what was then Catholic Portugal) because the locals were so tolerant of all faiths. Yes, I can see that well....because locals ARE accepting and tolerant of all.
Cannot even begin to tell you what it was like to see dolphins and sperm whales in the wild - where they were MEANT to be....rather than forming "stupid tricks" for even MORE STUPID humans paying to see such tricks. It was great to see them in the wild.
We're not bird-watchers but at night we had a symphony of terns who cry out like babies. In the morning we were greeted by sweet songbirds (MUST find out their names!!) - who sang to us (more likely to their mates!) for almost hours.
There were hydrangeas growing like weeds, birds of paradise, tree ferns and greenhouses full of pineapples. The pineapples in Azores are indeed SPECIAL - they let them grow naturally for 2-1/2 years, and must move them in 3 stages to their final growing destination. They use no pesticides - all is organic. I tell you that we have never tasted SWEETER pineapple in our lives.
God willing - we are going to return NEXT year and God willing - if we win the Lotto - we would go there even more often.
Can you believe that JUST before we left we read DREADFUL things about SATA (the Azorean airline) - we half-expected the airline hosts and hostesses to SLAP us along the way after what we read - but SATA is a really GREAT airline - their safety record is TOPS and everyone WE met (from ground agents to hosts/hostesses) were courteous and nice to us. Oh, and their pilots are so, so skilled - those runways are short but they take off and land really, really well. Do you know what I LOVE about the Azoreans (besides them being polite, nice, kind and helpful?) - their INNOCENCE!!! Every time we landed on SATA airlines - EVERYONE in the plane CLAPPED - of course the pilot can't hear that, but it is (the clapping) a sign of a far more innocent time. I CAN remember going to a cinema in another country and hearing an audience CLAP when it was a good film. I think Americans lost a bit of their innocence when they stopped clapping (for films and good landings).
And of course - we tried local "lapas" (pronounced "lapash") - they WERE delicious albeit a bit on the rubbery side but we were glad to have tried them. The LAST night we were there - we were recommended to a really lovely restaurant called Cais 20 in San Roque (VERY much pronounced as in FRENCH!!!) - Nando had a kebab of "pulpo" (octopus) w/ shrimp (JUMBO!!) over veggies. I chose the monkfish kebab w/ shrimp over veggies - we shared - the seafood was GRILLED and so, so delicious and fresh!!!
PROMISE that photos will come. As far as we are concerned - Azores are the BEST place on this planet, also one of the cleanest places I've ever seen!!!
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