Travel day. Pics to come…

More travel notes…

Portugal and the Azores are very easy to travel in. The water and food are safe. Alcohol is inexpensive—beer and wine often appear at buffets, and in the Azores the local wine is both lovely and affordable.

Portuguese food tends to be heavy, with a lot of meat, dairy, cheese, and fish. Even so, it was easy to find restaurants serving good meals at reasonable prices.

The islands operate on their own time. For one excursion, we arrived twenty minutes early, only to be told to come back at the scheduled time. When someone asked if five minutes early would be better, the answer was the same: “At the scheduled time.”

On another tour, our guide announced we would have ten or fifteen minutes at a viewpoint. He said Germans like to ask, “Which is it—ten or fifteen?” He enjoys answering with something even less specific.

If we return, we’ve been told more than once that Mosteiros is a wonderful place to stay, and that September and October are ideal—fewer tourists and a warm ocean. I’d also like to stay in Furnas. It’s off the coast, but looked lovely.