We step outside of the Chalet da Tia Mercês and follow Paula, our tea sommelier. She leads us around the corner to the Água do Padre José fountain, where we fill our glass teacups with the water and drink it. This highly acidic mineral water tastes tangy and sour, with a little sweetness. Then she proceeds to use this naturally hot water to steep some Azorean green tea, and as it steeps, it turns purple! I am beaming! We have now just combined two of my favorite things: tea and the color purple.
I was also beaming because we had just spent two and a half hours in a private tea masterclass. The purple tea was the grand finale. The magic of that enchanting afternoon began the moment the clouds parted on our harrowing drive from the coast into the mountainous interior of São Miguel Island. Then the road sloped downward, and we descended into the volcanic crater that is home to the town of Furnas. Our first sights were the bubbling caldeiras; our first smells were the sulfurous gasses they emitted. We were surrounded by mountains and lush flora that was made intensely green by the sun. Water ran through all parts of town, providing natural spring water from countless fountains--each of which tasted different due to varying mineral content, and had different temperatures. After our tea masterclass, we purchased a mug from a local gift shop and tasted the water from as many fountains as we could find. This afternoon alone was enough to make the entire trip worthwhile, but there was so much more.
We visited two tea plantations and a pineapple plantation. We ate some amazing seafood right along the ocean. We visited impressive national and city parks. We successfully drove a car through towns that make people think "who in their right mind would ever try to drive a car down these narrow streets?!" We did it. And that was just our time in the Azores.
Our trip started with two nights in Lisbon, and after the Azores, we flew to Madeira. I just figured that if we were ever going to see Madeira, it would make sense to do it as part of this trip. I'm so glad we did it. Curral dad Freiras was by far my favorite part. It's a small town nestled in a valley, surrounded by steep mountains. We had lunch at a restaurant with a balcony that made you feel like you were suspended in the air amongst the mountains. The food was incredible, too--chicken stuffed with a mixture of ground pork and local chestnuts. The side of sweet potatoes was definitely fresh produce. Everything about it was perfect. I highly recommend all of it, and by that I mean the whole trip.
There are a few ways to get there these days. We chose to fly TAP Portugal direct to Lisbon, spend a couple days there, and then fly to the Azores. Both arrivals and departures from Lisbon's airport are a hassle, as they seem to have more flights than they can handle. From the Azores, we flew on SATA Azores Airlines from Ponta Delgada to Funchal, Madeira. At the end of the trip, we flew from Funchal to Lisbon on TAP Portugal, and then back home.
The caldeiras were the first thing we saw in Furnas, and they were amazing!
There were some celebrations going on in Madeira while we were there. This band roamed around the city center, stopping to play in various squares and pedestrian streets.
This trip was inspired by Gibraltar. Truthfully, I had been wanting to go to Morocco for a long time, and I knew that if we were in Gibraltar, we would simply have to go to Morocco. How could you not? So we started with that. We added a stop in London on the way in, a lunch in Spain in the middle, and a week in Scotland on the end. That's how we ended up with a mishmosh trip that we quite enjoyed.
As for Gibraltar itself, most guidebooks recommend a day trip, but we disagree. It's worth staying a few nights. I loved watching the sunset on Spain and Morocco from our balcony each night, and there's something to be said for being somewhere at a time of day when the day-trippers aren't there. You feel like you have it to yourself.
You could fly there, like we did, but know that it is one of the most dangerous airports for airplane landings. We didn't have any issues on the way in, but on our departure, our incoming aircraft was diverted to Málaga, Spain due to the winds in Gibraltar. We were then forced to embark on quite the journey, which involved walking across the border to Spain, taking buses to Málaga, getting into Heathrow at 1 AM, and missing our connection to Glasgow. British Airways was shockingly inept at handling a situation that we discovered happens quite regularly. Should we return to Gibraltar, we would most likely fly to Málaga from the start and not run the risk of issues at Gibraltar.
Here's my other issue with British Airways (and why I downgraded them on my airlines page): for a flight listed at 2 hours 45 minutes, there was literally no entertainment system on the plane. They had overhead screens that showed the map the entire time. Furthermore, the "meal" was a tiny sandwich smaller than my fist. It didn't seem on par with BA's usual service.
Had we known the first night that monkeys were able to climb onto the balconies at the Rock Hotel, I would have been much more alert. As it was, we had not a care in the world as we drank our wine and watched the sunset. The second night, however, we quickly learned there's nothing these monkeys can't climb, particularly hotel balconies. This guy was the first of three that night. It was slightly terrifying.
When you think you're getting out of Gibraltar, but no pilots are able to land the planes due to winds...
Portugal exceeded our expectations in every way! It's a beautiful country with so many things to see and do. The language was a little difficult for me to pronounce (they kept thinking I was speaking Spanish), but just about everyone speaks English. It's also a small enough country that you can see a lot in a short amount of time.
On our recent trip, we flew nonstop on TAP Portugal. It was okay. The worst part is Lisbon's airport. They don't have the capacity for all of the travelers, and we had to deplane and board our widebody aircraft via bus. Absolutely ridiculous. It was enough of an annoyance that I would avoid flying through Lisbon in the future.
Back in 2010, we flew on British Airways through London. Even though they were in the midst of a very frustrating strike, we managed to get there and back without any disruptions. We thanked those who continued to work our flights on the days of the strike! As for the service, we loved it. They served free food and drink (good quality, too), and the video-on-demand was good enough to keep us entertained the whole way home. The other nice thing was that we were able to do a stopover in London for a night.
We loved it and would go back any time! Madrid, Granada, Ronda, and Córdoba are all places we would recommend.
We flew into Madrid on US Airways from Chicago connecting in Philadelphia. So yeah, this trip was a while ago. Today we'd fly direct on Iberia Airlines, most likely.