Day 11- Sunday, February 25, 2024 - Ponta Delgado
Met our guide at 9:30 for our half day city tour. There were the 7 of us that were in Madeira and 7 others at this hotel who joined us. We were met with a little train that drove us through the downtown area while our guide pointed out the numerous churches and squares. Unfortunately the little Train couldn't and we had to walk the rest of the tour. We first stopped at the Borges Gardens which were beautiful. We saw Sao Francisco Square, the Sao Bras Fort, the three welcoming arches, the church of Sao Jose, Santo Cristo dos Milagres, (Christ of the Miracles behind his protected gate), site of an old Jewish synagogue, and the flag of Sao Miguel. We were supposed to go to the pineapple plantation today but we'll have to do that tomorrow. Then we were on our own. We did some shopping. I bought a Portugal shirt and an Azores hood that I'll take on our Douro cruise. Then we decided to go to the museums today since they are free on Sunday. By the way Sunday the town is as quiet as Saturday with most stores closed and no one around. First was the Museum of Santa Barbara which honored Prince Albert of Monaco and all of his oceanographic contributions. Then we went to the museum of Carlos Machado which dealt with natural history and a crazy amount of taxidermy and is housed in a former convent with a beautiful chapel. From there it was on to the Church of the Sacred Heart to view some art work and listen to a string ensemble rehearsing for a performance later in the day. Ran into Kathy and John on the way back to the hotel. Had some tea and baked goods we bought at the bakery yesterday. Then Ron read and napped, while I blogged. For dinner we were going to go to a little bar down the street from our hotel for and sandwich but it was very crowded with a group of men watching the soccer game so we went to O Churrasco. It is a grilling place. We had a mixed plate for 2 and now I'm in a meat coma - 2 types of steak, ribs, pork, chorizo, and chicken with a huge plate of fries. All it was missing was a little dinosaur sauce. Good day - now to get rested up for 2 full day trips around the island.
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