Wednesday 25th October 2023
The Azores
Sao Miguel, Ponta Delgado
Mary wrote: The weather is meant to be overcast with rain showers today. We were docking as we ate breakfast and everything looked very grey as dawn was breaking. I was having doubts about going on the tour to the pineapple farm and tea plantation. People had zoomed past me on the way to breakfast. Anyway, I've decided to go to the Neptune Lounge and sign in. I was worried we would have a long walk of ramps etc to get to the bus and be worn out before the start of the tour.
Luckily, it was the shortest and easiest walk to the bus we have encountered. Alex is the guide for today with Suzan from Fred Olsen, (the drama instructor), helping.
The pineapple greenhouses are on the South on the island and only about 10 minutes drive from the port. The ship is moored at Portas del Mar and is approximately 300 metres from the town. The terminal is connected to the main avenue downtown.
Alex told us plenty on the way. Originally oranges had been produced and has been a very good generation of money, with Great Britain being one of the biggest buyers. Unfortunately, gradually, the whole orange crop got diseased and pineapples at that time what just a decorative plant. A businessman gambled and found a successful method of growing the crop under glass which has survived to the present day. It is considered to be move flavoursome than the supermarket variety, but is much more expensive to grow. We went past a lot all tall stone walls which were originally built to protect the orange trees from the strong winds that blow. The pineapples arer not really suited to the climate, and therefore have to be grown in glasshouses to get the right humidity. The whole process takes two years to produce each fruit.
Firstly, a remaining fat root about 1½” in diameter and 6” to 7” long is planted horizontally and after six months should have produced 2 to 3 shoots with roots, which are then replanted in another prepared green house in a compost produced from sawdust and shredded leaves. These grow on for a further six months, and when they are required to produce the fruit, they are all smoked each night with dried banana leaves for about 7 nights. This somehow gets all the plants to start to produce fruit, so they get a more even crop. These days the pineapples are sold to the other islands in the group and to mainland Portugal, with a few going to the USA where there is an Azorian community.
The country is known for it's high rainfall, and they do not have irrigation in the glass houses, which have huge concrete ponds to hold water, and they use hosepipes to water each glasshouse. The glass house windows are all painted with lime wash to stop the plants scorching.
There was a beautiful tree at the nursery which was a Phlox Sik Tree with striking pink flowers.
We were given a sample of a pineapple liquor which gave me terrible indigestion once we were back on the bus.
There was a shop with plenty of reasonably priced gifts, but the light was very dim in there and we did not have much time, so I didn't buy anything, although plenty of other people bought things
The weather had been very sunny, but windy, so we were very lucky.
We then went to the north of the island to the tea plantation by crossing the narrowest part of the island. We saw plenty of Holstein/Friesian cows which are just used for milk and Angus cattle for beef. The grass is verdant all year round, so they are called “Happy Cows” because they live out all year. The farmers have mobile milking parlours, as they are continually moving the cows to different fields. They take a sample of eac day’s milk to the wholesaler for testing, and if OK, the large tanker goes to collect the milk.
The country also grows sugar cane which is used to make rum.
It was a pity that the tea plantation had ceased production for this year. Our guide spoke too quickly and his English was poor, so he was difficult to understand. It would have been easy to understand if the equipment had been working. Most of the equipment was very old and had been originally from Marshalls of England. Tea growing commenced in 1893. We did see bushes being weeded in one of the fields. They also use farmers’ goats, as they like the weeds but do not like the tea, so it is a win-win situation.
We did see some ladies hand-sorting the stems from the leaves before packing the tea, and an individual teabag machine running. We were also given samples a black tea and a green tea. There was very little difference between the two. They were both in urns, and a lady came and topped up one of them just by pouring some more into the top. (Previously, when touring Sri Lanka, I learned that brewing time was very important).
The tour lasted 3½ hours, and on the way back to the ship, we circled a roundabout which had nine white stone symbols representing the nine islands that make up the Azores. We also went along the Main Street and I was able to take photos from the bus. Unfortunately, I will be unable to walk into town this afternoon, but I am very pleased with what I achieve this morning. I really liked the island. There were plenty all blue hydrangeas growing like weeds.
We all now on our way home after leaving Porta Delgado. The sea is meant to get rough tonight. The advance of one hour on the clocks has been cancelled. We went to Showtime after dinner and saw the Balmoral Show Company do ‘Forever 80s’.
