Sao Miguel Island, Azores

Ponte Delgada, Sao Miguel Island

Ponte Delgada, Sao Miguel Island

Ponte Delgada, Sao Miguel Island

Ponte Delgada, Sao Miguel Island

Ponte Delgada, Sao Miguel Island

Ponte Delgada, Sao Miguel Island

Overview looking west to east

Showing the 'pimpled' character of the terrain

Twin Lakes, Setes de Cidades inside the western crater

Old Convent in Coloura. The nuns moved out and went to Sante Delgada to be safe from pirates

Intricate tiling

Black sandy beach

The fishing boats which we hardly see at all on the Algarve beaches now

Fire lake so called because it became active after the island was settled and the overflowing lava destroyed a village

An view of the north coast

General view

Fire lake

We visited the tea factory. This was a picture of how it was

I got a bit carried away with taking pics of these big bonsai plane trees

Camellia sinensis - tea bushes

Tea plantation - also bananas grown here

Avenue of plane trees to give shade in summer

The tiling is impressive everywhere

Ginger lily

The ginger lily - an invasive plant causing problems

General vegetation

Hot springs at Furnas

Indicatig how almost painfully tidy it all is

They cook using the heat from the hot springs. He has left his dish here for 7 hours and is now uncovering

Hot steam

There it is

Out it comes

Safe landing

Ready to take back to the restaurant

Thanks for the warning

Primeval moss and roots at Lake Furnas

We visited the daily market - here island grown pineapples

A veritable cornucopia

They are self sufficient in fruit and veg

Catch of the day

We couldn't identify most of these

Strange fish more like snakes

The Azoreans are self sufficient in pineapples - it takes two years to produce a crop

Typical church front

Porto Delagado rooftops

Looking north from Ponte Delgago - showing the 'pimples'

Typical street Ponte Delgado

The effect of the clipped planes

Inside the convent where the nuns live a totally monastic life never seeing anyone. Once a year this priceless statue is taken out and goes around the square outside and to every church in the two

The main square Ponte Delgada. The women go around here on their knees (and some men) twice as a penance during the once a year religious festival. Hard for us to understand why

Astonishing roots

This ficus (the same rubber plant we have in the corners of our houses) must be aeons old

Old greenhouse - gardeners always enjoy old greenhouses

More beautiful tiling