Portugal - Mosteiros and Ponta Delgada, Azores

We spent our last day revisiting (via scooter) some of the places we had seen briefly on our tour with Andy - especially our favorite spot on the ocean, on the northwestern tip of the island, a small village called Mosteiros (moos-TIE-roosh - Portugeuse rules). It gets its name from the Portugeuse word for monastery, after the beautiful, large house-shaped rocks a few hundred meters off the shore.

There are a few beautiful beaches there, plus another true Azorean gem: a "piscina naturais" (pee-SCENE-a na-too-RAYSH), or natural (swimming) pool. There are many along the coasts of the islands, and their basic principle is that they are pools filled with water directly from the sea. This one was particularly remarkable, as it was totally natural, no concrete, no tile, no stairs. Just the rock formations, and a ladder drilled into the side to climb in and out! It was quite deep - I jumped off a rock about 4 meters high into it, after watching some locals do it of course. Plus the waves regularly washed in over the lip of the pool, stirring up the water (and scaring the crap out of us a few times).

A nice sandy beach with a great view of the rocks off the shore in Mosteiros.

Mosteiros' piscina naturais, nestled intot he coastline - we were lucky it wasn't too crowded!

The water was really nice and warm - we were expecting much worse from the Atlantic, but it was at least 23 C (73 F).

Here comes a wave!  Swim, Aphyna, swim!  That was part of the fun. 

Aphyna looking stunning in front of Mosteiros shoreline - you can see the "monastery" rock off to the right, the left is the actual coastline of the island.

Side note - anybody want to go in on buying this house, right across the street from the piscina?  Four bedrooms, swimming pool... and it's only 150k!

On our last night, Aphyna and I made it to one of Ponta Delgada’s most famous restaurants, A Tasca (Portuguese for “The Tavern”). We discovered (the hard way) earlier in the week that you can’t get seated there without a reservation, and the soonest reservation we could get when we stopped in on Monday was for Friday night.  But luckily, that was our last night, so we had a perfect tchau celebration for our magical week on Sao Miguel!  

The menu (posing as a newspaper - cute idea) was full of regional specialties, including Grilled Limpets (had to try those, I’ve seen them on menus everywhere - they did NOT disappoint, and even Aphyna tried one!), and lots of fresh fish straight from the harbor two blocks away.  Our waiter was one of those classic OG servers who has been in the business for ages (22 years at Tasca!) - he made us smile and laugh and offered plenty of guidance, suggestions, and even corrections when he thought there was something better on the menu that we had to try.  I love to ask servers for recommendations, and it's always a good sign when someone knows the menu well enough to tell you what they really think about the food!

We ended up with a once-in-a-lifetime meal.  The fried octopus was buttery, the tenderest I've ever tasted; the sesame-crusted tuna with roasted taro root was juicy, fresh, and bursting with flavor; and the regional specialty of grilled Limpets (pictured) were mouth-watering, garlicky lil morsels - even Aphyna couldn't resist! Highly recommend!  Just remember to make your reservation a week in advance :)

Just reading the paper... the menu paper??  Hot off the presses!  Breaking news - WE'RE STARVING.  Any other  good newspaper puns?

Grilled limpets (lapas grelhadas), a specialty here on Sao Miguel (every island, even every city on every island, has their own little special dish, or festival, or something!) .  And such pretty shells!

She looks skeptical, but she loved it!

 After dinner, we ended our night with a truly Azorean evening of strolling along the pier, drinking midnight espresso, and being recommended by a friendly stranger to go check out the "regional goods" expo on the marina, which turned out to be a blast.

Drinking a pineapple smoothie next to a living display of Azorean pineapples - at midnight!

The Azorean staple crop - frutos do mar!  Peixe e mariscos of every shape and size.

We couldn't help but reflect on how special our time has been here.

Aphyna and I both feel a richness of culture here in Sao Miguel, something we’ve relished and found intoxicating.  Not the same as India, for example, where there’s a richness of Spiritual culture, or the Middle East, where Aphyna found a wealth of family culture.  If there’s anything particularly unique about the flavor of richness here, it would be the social culture.  You feel it when you’re sitting in the town square, or on the terrace of a cafe, enjoying your cappucino or sobremesas (dessert).  We’ve seen that people here love to be out in the night air, enjoying the evening, listening to live music, walking the streets, enjoying a long beer, wine, or coffee.  There’s a warmth in people’s faces and in interactions, even with strangers, and a real lack of the urgency and rush that is so ubiquitous in the US.  Everyone just seems happy to be where they are!  Which is a real secret to happiness, isn’t it: you can never find it somewhere else, you have to find it exactly where you are.

People told us that in this part of Europe, people don’t eat dinner until 10pm, and stay out late into the night; it’s true.  The town square is bustling, every night of the week, until midnight or later. But it’s not just young adults binge drinking and partying into the wee hours of the morning (although, side note, I did go to a sweet dance club, and discovered they didn’t even open until midnight, and the DJ didn’t start playing until 1:30AM, and people didn’t hit the dancefloor in earnest until after 2). We drank our dessert espressos next to families, children, toddlers, grandparents, teenagers, pets, all drinking wine, coffee, or eating crepes and ice cream.  On Saturday night, there was even an inflatable bouncy house set up for children to play in - until past 11 PM! The best part about one of our dinners was sitting next to the young couple with adorable 3-year-old twins who cracked us up all evening.  

Conventional wisdom in the US says that parents shouldn’t a) relax and enjoy themselves with their kids in public, b) take their children out to socialize with adults, c) let their children stay up late, d) let children have fun on school nights, or e) drink alcohol while they’re responsible for their kids.  

THEY’RE DOING THEM HERE ALL AT ONCE!  

And the effect is wonderful - it adds so much depth to the social environment when a child is present.  Not only does it make us "adults" a bit more conscientious of what we’re doing and saying, it also gives the children a voice in the culture - and the children themselves have so much to offer, with their fresh and unjaded perspectives.  It makes children much more comfortable talking to adults - and adults more comfortable being around children, both of which are necessary in a healthy community.  It’s a refreshing change, very welcome when Aphyna and I both are looking for a refreshing look on life.