756. 1 month later.. Goodbye Azores!

I'm writing this post on the night before leaving Azores! We were here for a month in total. Time flew by really fast..yet our first day arriving in Azores feels like months ago! Tomorrow we fly to Porto and will be there for 8 days before Canary Islands. COVID was pretty much non-existent in Azores so now it feels like we entering the "real world" again where everyone is just fighting the virus. I hope things go smoothly for us..will need to be extra careful now with everything since we are entering some COVID hotspots.

I will definitely miss Azores. Being here for so long, it started to feel like a second home already. Now at a new city we will need to find our favourite spots all over again..but it's also exciting. I'm also looking forward to exploring more places.

We don't have any ideas yet where we will be after Canary Islands. Thanks to COVID, we cannot book so far in advance. In a way the uncertainty is exciting and its also been fun thinking of all the different possible cities we can visit. I just wish there was no COVID to worry about. Travelling around for months on end, staying at a different city each month, has always been something on my bucket list though.

So here are some random photos taken throughout the weeks in Azores:


Azores Forever is a really nice snack bar. We came here a few times. Their burgers are really good. It's run by a husband and wife. They are super friendly and knows all the regulars!


Caldo Verde soup (traditional Portuguese soup) and smoked Azorean sausages.


I tried to hold off on this but my hair was getting too out of control..so I decided to get a haircut. I chose this salon which looked the nicest and most modern from all the other ones (there's not many available). The guy didn't speak English so someone else translated for him what I wanted. I don't think they understood anyway. He didn't cut much at all in terms of the volume (I wanted it thinner) but he did cut some parts on the side really unevenly. It looks quite weird now lol :( At least my hair grows fast.


We came to this restaurant twice and both times, a white pigeon joined us. He actually ate right off my plate. I was finished by then so I didn't mind lol.


One of my favourite spots - Armazens Cogunbreiro! We came a few times with our laptops to work and eat. They have a lot of food options (like breakfast and small lunches) but small portions. Also they have THE BEST hazelnut gelato!


A few days ago I went to the hospital for the first time in my life (hopefully last). Nothing serious - just my ankle was hurting for a few days so I wanted to get it checked out in case it kept getting worse. They did an X-Ray and found nothing wrong. I think it's due to the running we've been doing the past couple weeks (I've never run before for exercise..I don't think I do it in proper form) in addition to the hiking & walking we do every day. The doctor said it will get better in about a week.


Another one of our favourite spots is Mane Cigano. They are located just a 2min walk from us so we've gone there a few times. They're currently one of the top rated restaurants here and serve really inexpensive, local homemade food. It's a tiny place with 2 shared tables (I think either 6 or 8 seats per table). The menu is also very small. They have a different dish each day of the week plus several other dishes available every day. Here is the beef stew and tripe with vegetables. I love both of them. We also tried the fried sardines once (their specialty) which was good but I don't like picking apart the bones. All the dishes are very flavourful.


Another good restaurant we went to was Mariserra. They are located right beside the water with a nice patio, and specialize in seafood. I LOVED this octopus salad but it had too many onions.



We shared a large seafood rice which had a ton of shellfish in there that you have to crack yourself:

This weekend we visited Mosteiros, located on the western tip of the island.


We saw a few men at the rocks digging for seafood (crabs or mussels maybe). I assume they then bring them to restaurants.


We went to one of the few restaurants in the town. They had this delicious octopus stew..I loved it!!

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754. Azores Day 16 | Agua de Pau

Agua de Pau is a small village about 20 minutes drive away from Ponta Delgada. We decided to go and explore it last week. It's mainly a residential village with colourful houses and lots of beautiful villas (with sprawling lawns). Also a lot of modern style houses - like the super minamalist style with a lot of glass. I think a lot of the properties are vacation homes. I'm not referring to the ones in this photo above though. Here we walked up a small hill to reach a lookout point. I really liked the views here and the street.


A very common sight - laundry hanging to dry.


At the top is a little chapel


I found it funny Toronto was included in this lol


There were a LOT of these "Madeiran Wall Lizards" there. We probably saw hundreds. They live inside the holes of walls and come out to sunbathe. They are terrified of people though and all run away as soon as you walk by.


Then we walked through the nice residential area where all the villas are. Every one of them was gated (I stuck my camera between the gate to take a photo of this one lol) and some had a really long trail leading up to the house. I couldn't get a photo of those ones but they were all so nice! Some were large but some were not, though each one was beautifully designed with a well manicured lawn. & each was was uniquely designed. I really liked this one above.


Seafood rice for lunch

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752. Azores | Snapshots & Upcoming Plans

We are already halfway through our time in Azores! When we first planned this trip, I thought a month would seem really long but the time is flying by. Staying in Ponta Delgada has been really nice and already feels like "home". We have some favourite places already and some sort of routine.

A couple days ago we planned and booked our next destinations. We are in Azores until the end of this month. After that we will spend about 1 week in Porto (& Douro Valley!). After that, we will spend 1 month in Canary Islands. I am excited but I am a bit nervous as the COVID situation will be worse there. In Azores it feels pretty safe. We haven't planned anything after Canary Islands yet but we may go to Germany in November. I've always wanted to visit the Christmas markets there.

So this post will be a bunch of random photos that didn't fit into any of the other posts before. Mostly food pics taken from my phone lol.

PS - I'm sending postcards from every destination we visit. Message me if you want to be added to my list!


We started running in the evenings. It's a nice environment for it here beside the ocean.


A cat we saw on one of the runs


A dog wandered up to us at Vila Franca. Then awhile later his owner came and found him.


Another cat on the street. I try to pet all the dogs/cats I see.


This is a Comur store. They sell gourmet canned foods (mostly seafood). I really love the packaging design of their cans. It was so difficult deciding which ones to buy! In the end I bought 6 cans. They are quite expensive and came out to be a bit over $100 CAD. I plan to give some away to family and will keep a couple for myself as souvenirs.

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