Monday 13th September

The Azores are a beautiful set of islands. We had booked a tour, the first for us on the cruise. The tour didn’t start till 12.15 so we set off to explore the main shopping area to try and find an internet café and get the lay of the land. The internet café was eventually found and we just checked for the important emails if any, and then got out for a walk back to the ship for the tour.
The tour was a 2½ hour bus drive up to the mountains to see the crater lakes. The mountain is 2000 feet (660 metres) high. The views really were magnificent and the picture probably will not do justice. On the way back we managed to stop on a part of the mountain range where you could see both the north and south sides of the island from the same point. The Island is wide but not very deep. The sights from the mountain stop looked just like you were looking down the south coast of Australia near Gerringong.
Beautiful blue sea, rich green verdant mountain sides and narrow roads.
The last stop on the way was a pineapple plantation but the difference being that it was in hot houses. I can’t see how they made too much money as pineapples take three years till you get a single fruit from them then you have to start again. There were about 12 or 15 hothouses with about 900 plants in each. The most pineapples you could sell each year would be about 4000, so there couldn’t be much of a living but it would depend how much you got for each.
We then wandered through the shopping area again and back to the boat in time for afternoon tea.
The food is improving. We are blessed with intelligent and entertaining dinner companions. One lady, who has travelled extensively has a very retentive memory and gives us lots of details of her travels. One of the men used to be a headmaster but dad is coping as he is very funny. Two of the ladies have been involved in the travel industry. One lady worked for Thai airline and still has travel benefits. Most people are lovely and we have seen a minimal of the ugly Australian. We found out that that Germans have a different and much more generous drink package then the Australians. You can imagine how the Australians like this.
One of the couples are ’ten pound poms’ Young people talk to old people for explanation. They are lovely and friends with the headmaster and his wife. He does not eat any vegetables that are green. He comes from Northen Island and loves his taties in any shape or form.
Good news about the Raiders! Hope they can win on Friday. We arrive home on Grand final day. Hope someone can meet us!