Exploring

Flexibility -- got to have it.  This morning the breakfast room was so crowded (German bus tour) that we walked down to the dock and checked out the boats in the harbour.  When we got back, just about 9 and basically had the place to ourselves.  See, be flexible, be happy.

Today was an exploring day -- to see if this place would make a nice cycling holiday.  We went across the island -- about 8 km if you go directly north of Ponta Delgada.  There are a number of different grades of roads.  The Via Rapida don't allow tractors, bicycles or cows, so there would be no cycling there.  The 'red' road (colour on our map) is called a main road.  It allows the aforementioned items and we met all except the bicycles.  The tractors really move, and the cows, well, no bells but a fit, fifty-year old in shorts chasing them along the road.  Reminds me of the sheep in New Zealand.

We stopped along some of the little villages which perch on the cliffs and at the mouths of the rivers which come out of the mountains to the sea.  Fishermen were working on lines, boats were out in the harbour, guys were sweeping the streets.  Normal life.  Stop in at a cafe and grab a coffee (espresso) in about 3.5 minutes at the counter.  Normal life. Pilgrims walking along the street.  Normal life.

We got all the way to Nordeste. Every place has a local church in the classic black and white motif.  They are not ridiculously ornate, but seem fitting to the towns.  In most places you can hear village kids out on recess and cows mooing.  Cows, very important residents here.  They have fabulously green pastures and overpasses to connect pastures divided by the Via Rapida.

Goreanna is one of only two remaining tea plantations here on Sao Miguel.  They make an orange pekoe and a green tea.  Ian and I both preferred the latter.  Nice tasting room after we wandered through the production area -- currently shut down as tea harvest season doesn't start till Mid March.  It goes till mid October.

Nice exploring!