Ponta Delgada, p.m.

We were blessed with perfect, albeit windy, weather in the afternoon for our excursion. Unfortunately, things went downhill quickly. We assembled in the big theater and were assigned to groups. Four busloads (about 250 people) had signed up for our excursion, billed as a tour of the Village of Sete Cidades and wine-tasting. We sat in the theater for 45 minutes past the supposed departure time, so you can imagine many of us were getting peevish. Finally, the buses arrived and we were marched down two flights of stairs, then up one flight (Charlie’s poor knee!) to board the buses. Our driver was very skillful at navigating the narrow, winding roads up the mountain, but our guide was beyond annoying. We wondered if they had just recruited him off the street. He mostly blathered in a stream-of-consciousness way, going into way too much detail about the “wildlife,” for example, of which there is basically none on the island. After almost an hour, the bus stopped in a random neighborhood and we were told to “explore” for all of 20 minutes. We walked down cobblestone sidewalks past quaint houses, many with beautiful flowers. 

Basically, we walked down and back up this street in the time allotted. Once back on the bus, we were driven up higher so we could look down on the volcanic twin lakes. 

The bus stopped again for a quick photo op of “the king’s view,” but people had to scramble up a rocky four-foot embankment, so most of us didn’t get off. Charlie managed a decent pic from the bus. 

Finally, we headed back to Ponta Delgada for the wine-tasting. Our expectations were extremely low by this point, but the very nice hotel had a lovely courtyard where we sat to enjoy a few of the local wines, as well as local cheeses, all very tasty. 

We returned to the ship just under the wire, at 5:30. After a long Security line, we were finally back on board.  We stopped at the first bar for much-needed fortifications on the way to our suite. We were so tired that we ordered room service from the main dining room.  It was Asian Night, and we enjoyed dumplings, spring rolls, shrimp pad Thai, and kung pao chicken, all very tasty. What an afternoon!