Are you ready to hear about my lovely Azores trip? Well, today I had planned to post about something different, but my week has not gone the way that I had planned, at all. Blessed are the flexible right?
From sick kids, to playing catch up from being gone three days, to the end of the school year busyness, I’m working hard to stay on top of everything! Life is messy. I feel like I live this reality weekly. 🙂
In other news I’m also starting to feel like I’m totally out of the loop. My mom informed me that there is now an I-phone 6 (I had no idea) and my kids were the ones who brought me up to speed all about Caitlyn Jenner (please note this is Caitlyn without a “K” – just saying). I need to start reading the news more, obviously.
I guess I’ve been preoccupied with things like traveling! Which is exactly what I’m sharing with you today. Last weekend I had the privilege of joining two friends, Cristina and Jill on a three-day trip to the Portugal islands, referred to as the Azores. We stayed on the island of Sao Miguel, in an area called Ponta Delgade. Here are some of the highlights of the fun-filled and relaxing weekend.
We flew in Friday and spent the afternoon exploring restaurants and the sites. The city is quiet and quaint. It reminds me a lot of where we live in Portugal, but it also had a slower more island type of feel. Although the fast drivers were still speeding through the tiny streets! #watchoutforyourtoes
Saturday we woke up and headed out on a full-day tour with our fantastic guide, Edwardo. My favorite part about our guide was his passion for his job and how much he LOVES his island. There is nothing I appreciate more than seeing someone doing exactly what they are called to do. He drove us all around the island and gave us a really great tour, we were with him from 9-6pm!
The Azores are known for a few things: cows (butter and cheese), pineapples, and liqueur. Let’s talk about organic, these are happy well cared for cows. They know when they need to be milked and will start walking in a line to the farmers and their machines to be milked. We often enjoy the butter and cheeses from the Azores, and now I know why they are SO good!Â
The views…I mean it is a gorgeous spot. Very lush, green, and frankly breath-taking. Our tour included a trip to the hot springs. Which was so cool! We got to swim in them and the warmer spring of the two felt like a bona fide hot tub.
After that, we stopped at a beautiful beach area, where we could have hung out there for the rest of the day.
When we made it to our lunch stop we were thrilled…look at this place…
The lunch was AMAZING! I was the girl scraping the remainder of her passionfruit mousse out of the dish with the back-end of her spoon. Yep that was me.
After lunch we hit the liqueur store (after a coffee stop – I drank more coffee on this trip then I have ever before in my life) where we got to sample lots of unique flavors, ranging from coffee, to passionfruit, to pineapple. I picked up some pineapple flavored candies for my kids. (Edwardo, our great guide is in this picture.)
More beauty…this shows the overall island and the narrowest part of the island that is only five miles wide.
And because we like to have a little fun…Cristina fell and she had a hard time getting back up!
During our fifth coffee stop of the day we saw this go by…
After the tour, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner and let’s just say sometimes I get the giggles. I was trying to tell a knock-knock joke, it had something to do with cows…for some reason when I get the giggles I have a hard time containing them. Here is proof.
The joke was not funny. I promise. We shut the restaurant down. Me and my chamomile tea.
Our last day, Sunday, we spent relaxing with a little spa time at our lovely hotel (yes I’ve got my self-care going for June!), followed by some more walking around the city. Our hotel was lovely and the weekend was a beautiful time filled with lots of laughter, lots of exploring, and lots of relaxing!
Thanks for sharing in my travel adventures! I have always loved to travel and I don’t take for granted one bit what I am being able to experience during this short time of living abroad. The people I get to meet, the places I get to see, and the memories are priceless. I’m so thankful.
In organizing news I shared a great packing post over at Organizing Junkie last week, I think you’ll find that I’ve got some great tips on how to organize for your packing and traveling. Less is more – I promise!
Have a fabulous weekend! I can’t wait to share with you next week all about my new “capsule” wardrobe. Organizing my closet has gone to a NEW level! xoxo