The Trip My husband and I bought a great travel package deal from Azores Getaways via Travelzoo: 6 nights in a brand new Doubletree Hotel, a rental car, and round trip flights from Boston. With reasonable add-on charges for early check-in and an automatic car, we paid less than $2000.
*Travel to Sao Miguel, Azores * We flew from Sea-Tac to Boston, stayed overnight, then stored our bags at the hotel and spent several lovely hours at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, before taking our night flight. We arrived at 7 AM to pink and blue skies and a 15 minute downpour just as we were walking outside to retrieve our car. The air smelled wonderful.
We drove 15 minutes to the hotel in Lagoa, enjoyed our included excellent free breakfast buffet, then took a nap for several hours. (I am now totally Team Early Check-in.) We spent the afternoon walking around the little town of Lagoa, then had happy hour at the hotel bar and dinner in the hotel restaurant. Hotel staff were uniformly warm and helpful.
- Touristy Things* The travel agency sent is a 30-page Self-Drive Guide, all we needed. We toured the fort in Ponta Delgado (PD), took a half day tour (pineapple plantation, ceramics factory, walking tour of a few downtown spots), drove east to Furnas for outstanding beef lunch and a thermal pool soak, hiked to a black sand beach and noted the ocean water was surprisingly NOT ice cold, and climbed many flights of stairs to the lovely Nossa Senhora Da Paz chapel high on a hill in Vila Franca Do Campo.
Slow Travel We spent a lot of time just walking around in PD, admiring the architecture and the views, and of course eating.
- Food and Drink* So many great meals! Our favorite was O Rui in Lagoa - beautiful and skillfully prepared food, featuring local fish, beef, cheese, and white wine. We also had excellent fish meals at Boca Aberta and Alma Latina in Lagoa. In Furnas, we loved our Angus beef lunch at Queijaria Furnense. In PD, good lunch and sweet atmosphere at Louvre Michaelense, very good dinner at Taberna Acor, a venerable old spot (reservations a must.) The local beer and white wine was really good, and Portuguese red was too (no good Azorean red wine, due to the climate, several servers said.) Prices were low to us compared to US: 50-70E for two entrees with sides, a glass of wine or beer each, and sometimes dessert.
Driving Windy roads, almost always traffic circles rather than lights, and narrow roads in the towns with blind corners - I was so glad to naviagate rather than drive. It was just beautiful driving in the countryside, with wild hydrangeas everywhere, palm trees, so much greenery, and frequent herds of happy cows.
Hotels Comfort Inn Logan International in Revere near Boston - $190. Our go-to the night before flying to Europe. Free 24-hour hotel shuttle, included breakfast, clean and comfy rooms. Doubletree in Lagoa about 15 minutes from PD - rack rate when we were there was $99. 5 star hotel, no doubt rates will rise there and everywhere in high season. Loved it. Neat Hotel in downtown PD - $57 for a not fancy but very comfortable room, excellent breakfast buffet for 5.5E more, good location 1/2 block from the bay.
Language, Money, etc We practiced a few words/phrases, and were proud to say Bom Dia and Obrigado/a as much as possible. Most of the locals spoke some (or a lot) of English. Google Translate was very helpful, including the camera feature to translate an entire chalkboard menu at once. We withdrew 140E for walking around money but didn't need it all.
Unplanned Adventure We ended up staying an extra day downtown, because "someone" lost their passport. The police were helpful (pro tip: once the screening officer triages you and tells you to sit and wait, just do it - do NOT get up after over an hour and try to move things along.) The US consul office was also helpful, once she accepted that I had no photo ID whatsoever, and we found a way to confirm my identity. (con't)