The truth is that we only know a fraction of who people really are. Most of the people we encounter in our entire lives, we measure them by first impressions. Consciously or unconsciously, they are usually biased. Perhaps it’s human nature, and we are flawed from the very beginning..
Woke up this morning and read some of the “headline news” from the country where we call home. Honestly, with all the unfathomable nonsense and tragedies that have been happening, I’m not looking forward to going home even though we’re both feeling fatigued from this trip at this moment.
Please wake me up when this nightmare ends..
Today we bid farewell to Açores and say hello again to Lisbon. It’s been more than a pleasant experience during our stay in Ponta Delgada. People we had encountered in Lisbon have been warm and friendly. It was even more so in Açores. We appreciate the hospitality and certainly can recommend visiting Ponta Delgada should anyone be curious.
Today will be the last full day we have in Ponta Delgada. Before we had breakfast and left the room for the day, both my companion and I went out for a walk and run respectively. I ventured and ran towards to the city center this morning. It’s a bit more hilly than I expected but was still a pleasant run. When I reached the plaza where we always have Uber drop us off, I remembered the time we used to walk this distance from hotel to explore whichever the city we were visiting..
As it turned out, we visited more places today in one day than all the previous days combined. After a late lunch, we headed towards to Portas da Cidade on foot. There were times I stopped to photograph whatever I found interesting and let my companion continue walking ahead. I noticed his tired and once in a while unsteady steps..
It’s time to slow down our pace. Knowing my companion, we will never stop traveling. But we definitely need to change how we travel. Life is too short not to face the reality.
This image was captured before the sun rose this morning. It was declared a do-nothing day, and for sure nothing happened. We only left the door and went to the hotel pool after noon basically letting the house keeping have the opportunity to make our room. It’s one of these days when we travel..
Dinner time in Portugal is rather late for us. Local people usually have dinner after 7pm. The street might look deserted because all the shops are closed. However most restaurants around there are packed with patrons. Popular places all require advance reservations and we learned the hard way tonight..
Today we hopped on one more plane. We left the hotel in Lisboa at 1:45pm and arrived in the Azores shortly after 7pm local time. The Azores is the main destination for this trip and we are looking forward to exploring the largest city Ponta Delgada.
On the other hand, we just wanted to take it easy and relax a bit. Traveling is a lot more stressful and tiresome when our bodies are no longer at the peak condition..
It was a rather easy journey going up to the Castelo de São Jorge. But getting back to our hotel from there was a different story. We had to walk for quite a while to reach the bus stop. With my companion’s physical condition, the hilly roads and the high temperature, it wasn’t a pleasant experience walking under the blazing sun. We made it safely back to where we are staying, and that’s all that matters.
My companion told me that we were there 20+ years ago. However I absolutely had no memory of it even when we were walking around up on the castle. If only I could find the old photos. That would be the only way for me to confirm that we were there.
PS: I was still shooting film back then..
Earlier today we went to Museu Banksy (Museum Banksy), which is conveniently located right behind the hotel where we are staying. The exhibition was well presented with detailed explanation of each piece that Banksy created. Although I knew they were all reproductions, I didn’t realize that the famous anonymous artist actually has never authorized the exhibition. Neither this one in Lisbon nor others in New York or Paris. This fact suddenly put a dent in the whole experience.
Banksy has clearly expressed his opinion on consumerism and capitalism through his art. (Whether his work is art or vandalism is a different matter..) I have to wonder what he truly thinks about all these pro-profit Banksy Museums around the world which none is authorized by the artist himself.
Note: the image is one of many murals that Banksy created in Ukrainian cities ruined by Russia.
Today was the first full day in Lisbon. We had our breakfast rather late this morning, which partially because of the time difference and we were not even really hungry. Around noon we stepped out of the hotel to give them time to make the room. Meanwhile I got my hair cut nearby. The cost was about 20 euros; pretty much equals to what I usually pay in Santa Fe.
After some rest, we left the room again at four o’clock and took the metro to Chiado. It was lovely walking around in that neighborhood a bit before we had dinner and hopped on the bus back to the hotel..
