Settling in

Many of my acquaintances have flown the Canadian winter to Florida and periodically I hear from some of them as they golf and soak up the sun.  For whatever reason, that destination has not appealed to us as a 'escape winter' spot.  Enter the Azores.  Our first visit was in the fall and we were most impressed with the climate, the easy going pace, the non-tourist feel and the 'piece of old europe' ambiance.  Last year we checked out Madiera and were not really delighted with it -- too touristy, but our 4 days here afterwards confirmed that this might be a good spot to spend a longer time.

So this year we are booked here for 2.5 weeks -- longer than any other place I have spent without a family connection.  When I did the booking, I looked very carefully at all the hotels/apartments that were possible with the package and settled on this place -- Hotel Gaivota.  It is centrally located -- actually on the waterfront right downtown.  It is a one bedroom apartment with a kitchenette, dining table, sofa, balcony, 2 TVs and a nice big desk.  There was an option to take it with the continental breakfast and that's what I did.  I stayed with the garden view and did not opt for the seaview.

So how pleased are we with my choices?  VERY!  The location is great -- especially with my foot situation.  There is a supermarket literally 2 doors away and it is open every day till 8 pm.  About another 2 doors away is the entrance to a small mall here downtown with a laundry and a China store (these carry everything and are discount merchandise, but great for little odds and ends which you find you might need).  The kitchenette is perfectly adequate, for the amount of cooking I plan to do, with its microwave and two burner hot plate.  It has a bar sized frig with a little freezer section on top.  (With the lovely breakfast downstairs, we have been having some kind of lunch out and then bringing back soup stuff, bread and cheese for supper.)

The balcony faces away from the sea breeze and with the privacy of the open space (the building behind us has been torn down with only the facade remaining braced against the next road up the hill) makes it OK to hang out little laundry bits that we rinse out each day.  Today it rained in the morning, but this afternoon, it was lovely to sit out on the balcony and have a cup of coffee after our walking while listening to the doves who live in the houses out behind..

The city buses do not run on weekends, but the tourist office is open each day and the agents very helpful.  Many of the stores downtown also are closed both weekend days.  Kind of nice for this society which still has a more leisurely rhythm to the weekend than has become the norm in our 24-7 culture.

The hotel staff is professional but helpful.  Our requests for extra pots and coathangers were answered almost immediately and the young lady who runs the breakfast knows us already.

Lovely spot, glad we are here!