15 June 2023
Woke up early, finished packing, and went out on deck to see the city for the first time. Disembarkation went so quickly—literally about ten minutes! I sat outside the terminal for a bit before walking across the street to find Pedro—my back hurts already, lol.
No need for customs which felt strange—I guess the cruise line takes care of all that, back in Ponta Delgada. Found Pedro (very nice—he bought me a soda) and walked to a café where he showed me a map of all the different neighborhoods in the area…then he drove me to the meeting point for my ebike tour.
I was a bit early there so I walked around a bit, then found a bench to sit and wait. They finally arrived, and I was the only person on the tour. We rode them through the city to the bike lane along the Targus River. It was an ebike so didn’t have to exert too much, but the seat was VERY hard and small and bruised my tailbone! We rode all the way to Belem and saw the tower, monastery, and the Discovery Monument. We even rode under the 25th of April Bridge and saw the Cristo statue across the water.
When we got back, we were weaving through some traffic and I fell right in front of the store. FUN! He let me use the store wifi to call an Uber to take me to a shopping center to buy a SIM card.
I had to wait about 30 minutes to be helped, but $25 later, I had a working phone. I also got an okay ham and brie Panini and coke (that I promptly spilled all over the counter). Realized I didn’t have enough time to go by the Airbnb yet, so Ubered to the meeting point for my walking tour. Had a good convo with my driver from Bangladesh who had also lived in Sweden and has been here for 2 years with his wife.
Found my tour people and used an underground w/c (always a pleasure). The tour went all over and up a couple of huge hills (I’m dying here!). Saw a piece of the old city wall (inside an office building), the Carmo convent, the Santa Justa elevator (no ride—we just walked to the upper viewpoint with no line and no cost). Then walked through Baixa and Alfalma (so I’ve seen most of the major neighborhoods now). Learned about the Moorish, Jewish, and Muslim influence on the city.
The tour went about 30 minutes long, but the tour guide walked a bit with me back toward my Airbnb and showed me how to get there. I stopped to get my ramen and a Coke Zero for tomorrow, then finally made it for a much-needed shower. It is VERY hot—not much humidity, though, which helps.
JillMelancon Travel 
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