First, a very happy birthday to Julie!!!!
We are now in Lisbon, and had only limited internet in the Azores, but what a time we had. We got into Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, late on Sunday. Our hotel clerk looked like Harry Potter! We stayed in a beautiful hotel, a converted school, in the old town. We had booked an all-day tour for Monday, and I'm so glad we did.
Our tour guide, Jorge, a 67-year-old former bank employee, picked us up promptly at 9:15 AM. He LOVES Sao Miguel and gave us the most wonderful tour of only the Western third of the island. We saw gardens in the city, emerald green cow pastures, lakes in the crater of the volcano, tiny seacoast towns, old churches, dramatic coastlines and a pineapple farm. He had this wonderful sense of humor, it reminded both Margaret Ann and me of Uncle Dan!
I felt like the tour helped explain for me why I love what I love. The flowers in the gardens were the same ones Mom and Dad had planted around our house. The kindness of the people and did I mention their humor felt like home. The cows, well, the cows were fantastic. The sea and the scenery were lush.
So here's a joke: See those cows on the hill? They're the special cows with two legs shorter than the others...Then Jorge would say, "it's just a joke," like we might think he was serious!
Oh, and did you know that pineapples don't grow on trees....?
Okay, but the best part of the day was, of course, food. First, lunch. I hadn't realized lunch was included in our tour. It was the four of us and Jorge at this manor house, owned by an old school chum of Jorge, Fatima. She had had 7 children and her husband was now dead. We drove up to this old house, filled with beautiful things, and she had prepared this incredible Portuguese meal, served by a woman of our 20 in a maid's outfit, all on china, all very proper. We started with fortified wine, bread, and local cheese, plus some shredded pork. Luncheon was little fried fish stuffed with breading, chorizo (the Portuguese kind), sliced pork, tomatoes, salad, boiled potatoes, taro root and rice. Oh, and wine, of course. I had asked Jorge about Massa Sovada, because I hadn't seen much on our trip. He said that she made this wonderful dessert called Nun's Belly with it, so he asked her to make that for dessert, which she did! It was so good, when I told Julie we had to find a Portuguese cookbook with the recipe, Jorge went and got it from Fatima. It's in Portuguese of course, so she came out to explain it to Jorge to translate for me. I was following pretty well, though, so at the end she gave us all kisses on both cheeks. I will never forget our manor house lunch!
For dinner we ate at our hotel, and it was the most upscale meal we have had yet. I had Duck Magret (sliced duck breast) and Andy had Tuna with honey and breadcrumbs on the top. I also had pate for the appetizer.
This morning we flew to Lisbon and we have a nice big room for all 4 of us (thank you, Gale, for the tip). We took it easy today, just walked around the shops for a bit. Tomorrow will probably be full again.

Julie: everyone at Hard Rock (guests included) sang Happy Birthday to me! And a stranger offered me his beer. Also, today we were told we look Italian, and another man told me I have a good accent. So, that's a plus...did some shopping today, but not nearly enough ;)