Right after JP Day, we hit the road with P’s mom, sister, P’s bff from highschool and her spouse (we postponed our honeymoon till next year) and headed to Tuscany. It was everyone’s first Europe trip and since it’s already mid September, we figured Italy would be a safe bet for warm and sunny weather. And so it went, our week was full of sunshine. We stayed 20km north of Florence in the secluded, ancient and tiny village of Savignano in a beautiful 13th century villa with an infinity pool overlooking the owner’s own olive plantage. Needless to say, we didn’t wanna leave.
Our villa in SavignanoAerial view of the tiny village, that’s really it!The villa has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, perfect for our group of 6.
FlorenceCattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore late in the evening
Palazzo Vecchio
On the way to the river ArnoPonte Vecchio, another “must-see” with many shops built on top of the bridgeView from Ponte Vecchio to the next of many bridges across river Arno
Being in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, it rains quite often on the Azores archipelago. In fact, it rained every single day we were there but given our unique “shelter“, we didn’t mind much. Besides, the sun always came out after the rain. They have neither real winter nor real summer, the weather is constantly mild, almost like spring time all year round, which is actually quite nice. The most popular activity on Sao Miguel, or any other island, is hiking, and the most pleasant one, for us ;-), is taking a long dip in one of the natural hotsprings in the volcanic village of Furnas.
Furnas37°C natual thermal pool in Terra Nostra Botanical ParkTerra Nostra Botanical GardenMore natural hotspring
Tea Plantation Cha Gorreana
Tea production
Volcanic beach with black sand
Local aged cheese from the island of Sao Jorge, hard to resist…Wines from Picco island, we didn’t have one we didn’t likeErmida de Nossa Senhora da Paz – Our Lady of Peace chapel in Vila Franca do CampoPonta Delgada city center
Some fun facts about the Azores and its 9 islands:
All are volcanic islands dating back to million years ago.
It is an autonomous region with its own government and administrations within the Portugal Republic.
Sao Miguelis the largest of all islands and is home to Europe’s two and only tea plantations, Gorreana & Porto FormosoFlat-16q4
both on the north coast.
Due to its unique weather condition, all islands are very green and most flowers are in bloom all year round.
Each island has its own distinct characteristics and specialty products: Pico is known for its high mountains and wine, Sao Miguel for its tea and agricultural products, Sao Jorge for its excellent cheese, Faial for its volcanos, Flores for its valleys, Santa Maria for its brown sandy beaches.
The “Azores High” climate is named after the archipelago, distictive for its high atmospheric pressure.
We have to admit we’re quite intriqued about what the other islands have to offer. This is undoubtedly one of the places we would come back for more.
The title has said it all. The minute we arrived in this amazingly beautiful “resort” on Sao Miquel – the biggest island in the Azores, all the sickness and hustles of the past few days were immediately forgotten. The owners, Jorge from Sao Miquel and Eleni from Australia/Greece, renovated their property and turned it into a wedding locatin just last year. They added the Greek chapel and a “glass house”, in which the newlywed couple could spend the night in the “honeymoon suite” in the back. We call it the glass house because the front (living) room is made entirely of glasses. It is one huge open space with the bedroom/honeymoon suite and the bathroom are “hidden” behind the open kitchen. We loved the view in here so much that we chose to sleep on the bed-couch in the middle of the glass house just to take it all in.
Our private view of the Islet of Vila Franca do Campo where the cliff diving worldcup took place this yearThe chapelView in front of the chapel
Our “honeymoon” Suite in the “glass hourse” and the main house of our hosts in the back
Inside the “glass house”Most delicious dinner cooked by our host, Eleni
What we heard about Lisbon didn’t disappoint: the city, the people (exept taxi-drivers), the night life, the markets, the food-scene. They were more than captivating. Too bad we didn’t spend enough time here at once (our schedule was 3 nights Sintra – 2 nights Lisbon – 5 nights Sao Miquel – 2 nights Lisbon) cause coming in and out for two nights each left us only 2 full days to explore the city. But we loved what we saw and would definitely come back for more.
The bayPastei (egg tart) at the infamous bakery Manteigaria, at €1 each. We couldn’t have enough of them.Rooftop barThe cityView of Lisbon from Castelo de Sao Jorge
Castelo de Sao Jorge
Roadtrip to the North
Surfer town of Peniche
Gooseneck Barnacles, one of Portugese delicatessen from the sea
