We were onboard the
Norwegian Cruise Lines 'Epic'
on a repositioning cruise from Port Canaveral, FL to Barcelona with various stops along the way - the first stop
being Ponta Delgada. Ponta Delgada is 3,198 sea miles from Port Canaveral and 914 sea miles southwest of Portugal and it is the largest municipality
(concelho) and economic capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal. It is located on São Miguel Island, the
largest and most populous in the Azores archipelago.
Ponta Delgada is the largest city on São Miguel Island, which is 290 square miles in size. The island has a population of 68,809 which
is a population density of 760 per square mile. The island has been populated since 1444 and Ponta Delgada was started in the year 1450.
Ponta Delgada Quick History Lesson:
In 1427, São Miguel became the second of the islands discovered by Gonçalo Velho Cabral to be settled by colonists from continental
Portugal. This date is uncertain, and it is believed that the island was discovered between 1426 and 1437 and inscribed in portolans from
the middle of the 15th century. Its discovery was later recorded by Father Gaspar Frutuoso in the seminal history of the Azores.
The first capital of the island was Vila Franca do Campo, which was devastated by the 1522 Vila Franca earthquake and landslides. The tragedy helped to elevate Ponta Delgada to the administrative and economic status of capital and business centre from 1546.
Interesting Facts about Ponta Delgada / Where is it? Map
São Miguel is the largest of a total of nine islands that make up the Azorean archipelago.
São Miguel is the only place in the world where pineapples are grown in greenhouses.
São Miguel is home to the only tea plantation in Europe.
There are web cams dotted around the island
You’ll find some incredible street art in Ponta Delgada.
The ship's scheduled arrival was 12:00PM and the assigned docking location was alongside the
Molhe do Porto.
This entire pier is also occupied by a series of shops, bars and restaurants so it was an interesting stroll into
the city. No need for a taxi here, the walking distance into town was brief, the weather was nice, and it was great to
be ashore after 7 days at sea!
As an ex-Navy sailor & a boat owner for many years, I was repeatedly impressed with the manner in which the Norwegian Epic was manuevered by the ship's Captain, let me explain; If you look at a map of the harbor you will be able to see that the harbor, although compact, has a long combined dock & breakwater named "Molhe do Porto", which is where the
Norwegian Epic was going to tie up. Now because this is a compact harbor, without sufficient room for the Epic to turn around
for departure (ie; no "turning basin"), the Captain/Pilot backed the ship into it's berth along the dock. This is technically interesting, but once I read that the
Norwegian Epic has bow & stern thrusters I knew that docking would not be difficult. The ship was brought into the vicinity of the
Molhe, the bow
was swung about, and the ship was then backed into it's berth easily without any tug boats being required.
Now to put the above into perspective and to further explain why I found our docking so
interesting, the Norwegian Epic size; 1,081 feet in length, 133 feet in width,
over 155,000 tons & over 200 feet in height (keel to top). And yet the ship was
maneuvered next to the dock without a pause!
Molhe do Porto Area
The above pictures may give you some idea of the shops and bars on the Molhe do Porto. All we had to
do to walk into town from the ship, was to walk past the shops and exit onto the city street
that parallels the harbor.
As you can see in the third image above, all of the cruise ships would
"back into" their docking locations because there is no "turning basin" in this harbor
to allow them to turn around. So having the bow aimed at the departure
direction allows them a simpler/faster exit.
Ponta Delgada is a small city and therefore easily walkable. We had no specific destination
in mind, so we decided just to explore and try to find some interesting places and maybe some
pastel de natas,
The street that paralled the harbor had a series of shops, restaurants and various other
businesses and some of the sidewalks and streets had a nicely artistic appearance due to the
manner in which the tiles were laid out.
We decided to have lunch at the Restaurant Palm Terrace Cafe. The weather was beautiful and we were able to
sit outside in the garden terrace (there are two modern dining rooms inside, but it was way too nice
to be sitting inside). We ordered a cheese plate for our appetizer and Celeste had their fish stew and I had shrimp in a garlic sauce. We had a small bottle of Vinho Verde (one of our favorite Portuguese white wines)
which complimented the sunny day. The prices were reasonable and the food authentic to the region.
Their menu contains a good selection of seafood and pastas items as well as International and Portuguese dishes, reasonable wine list and a small selection of desserts. Their address is Rua Marquês da Praia e Monforte, 40 (or
to be brief, look for the Hotel Talisman.
The restaurant is a part of the
Hotel Talisman (located immediately next door to the restaurant) and both are located next to a beautiful small park named Jardim Padre Sena Freitas.
On our stroll back in the direction of the harbor, we came across the Campo de São Francisco.
This large square had several large trees ("metrosiderus tomentosa" originally from Australia) that looked
like banyan trees. The trees had "support poles" holding up the enormous tree limbs that spread out
over the area around the tree. The square was surrounded by several interesting buildings, including
a pretty church named Santuário do Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres.
The Fort is located just to the south of the Campo de São Francisco square, and since it looked
interesting, it became our next exploration goal. The Fort is now a combination of a museum as well as
the original fortress itself, and it has a commanding view of the harbor. Considering that the Fort was
originally constructed in 1560, it is in very good condition.
The fort's role has now become a combined military museum and place of interest for tourists. As Portugal has
had a series of military adventures in their prior colonies, the museum contains artifacts & images from
those adventures.
Image # 1 is the property of
Carlos Luis M C da Cruz via Wikimedia Commons and the
Public Domain license.
All other images (unless otherwise noted) are the property of Just Traveling Thru, LLC.
Ponta Delgada Harbor
The ship required all passengers to be back onboard prior to 7:30PM, so we decided to head
back to the ship at approximately 6:15pm and find out what was on the menu for dinner! This would
allow us to be at the dinner table during the ship's departure, which provides you with a view of
the harbor as the cruise ship heads out to sea.
You can see that there were quite a few cruise ships in port that day, but that did not result in crowded conditions ashore. The city is
relatively small & very walkable.
Some Useful Links
Just Traveling Thru European Travel Tips
Just Traveling Thru Travel Planning Tips
Ponta Delgada History on the "All About Portugal" site
History of the Azores
A Travel Guide to Ponta Delgada, Azores on the 'Boston Magazine' Site
What to see in Ponta Delgada on 'Adventurous Travels' Site
Top Things to do and see in Ponta Delgada on the "Crazy Tourist" site
9 Top Tourist Attractions in Ponta Delgada on 'Planetware' Site
Google Search Results list for "Ponta Delgada Restaurants"
Google Search Results list for "accommodations in Ponta Delgada"
Things to do in Ponta Delgada on the "Get Your Guide" site
Youtube Search Results list for "Ponta Delgada Portugal"
Amazon Search Results list for "Ponta Delgada Portugal"
You should be aware that Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) varies where their ships go, as well as what ships they will reposition. To determine
where NCL is sending what ships, you
should visit their website. Our list of ports below, is based
upon what the "Epic" did when we were onboard in 2019.
Norwegian 'Epic' Cruise Overview
This is a large ship; 1,081 feet long, 155,873 gross tons in weight, and 133 feet wide. We cover the ship
from bow to stern in our overview page.
Ponta Delgada is located on São Miguel Island, the largest
and most populous in the archipelago. 137,856 (2012) island population and 62.1 kilometers in
length by 15.8 kilometers in width.
This island is 599 miles from Ponta Delgada, with a population of 267,785. The island is 35 miles long and 13 miles wide and has 99
miles of coastline, but the shore is all rock and cliffs. It's a mountainous island; the highest peak is 1,862
meters/6,100 feet high.
This port is 659 miles from Madeira. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, with archaeological
remains dating to 3,100 years and was founded by the Phoenicians.
This port is 141.5 miles from Cadiz. With a population of 571,026 in 2018, it is the
second-most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth-largest in Spain. The southernmost large city in Europe, it
lies on the Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun) of the Mediterranean.
This port is 199 miles from Malaga. With a population of 213,943 inhabitants, being
the Region’s second-largest municipality and Spain’s sixth-largest non-Province-capital city.
This port is 334 miles from Cartagena and it is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic
Islands in Spain. Population of 409,661.
This port is 153 miles from Palma. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits.
Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are Affiliate Links,
meaning, at no additional cost to you, that we will earn a commission if you click through
and make a purchase. So we would appreciate any click throughs, if you are inclined.
Note: All images on this page are the property of Just Traveling Thru, LLC
unless otherwise noted.
Note: If you are interested in our European Travel Tips & Warnings,
Click here. Or to take a look at our methods for
Trip Planning click here.
To review any of our content, make suggestions and/or comments, please click the "Info" menu button at the top of this page. You will find our "Contact Us" link on that drop-down menu.
Website Cookie Acceptance
We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our website, to show you personalized content and targeted ads, to analyze our website traffic, and to understand where our visitors are coming from. By browsing our website, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.