Ponta Delgada, Portugal

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, 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!

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.

 Quick History Lesson 

The Fort São Brás is a polygonal base construction, designed by the Italian Tomaso Benedetti, with four bastions at the angles, prepared to receive pieces of artillery and low wall curtains, of great thickness. In its interior there is a square of arms and, in its around, a set of buildings of times and diverse configurations. Over the centuries, it has been altered with new additions and transformations. The fort was constructed in the sixteenth century with the purpose of protecting Ponta Delgada from pirates.

The analysis of the work of the seventeenth-century chronicler Gaspar Frutuoso who described in detail the most remarkable things on the island and reported the different incursions of privateers until then, circa 1586-1590, indicates only a lookout on the Fort site: "(...) guarded the hermitage of Our Lady of Conception, which is on the port (...)". Other warnings came from the lookouts then also in the Figueiral and Marvão. ("Miss Earth ", Book III, Chapter X, VII)

When English privateers attacked in 1589 the High Rock was already possibly strapped with some cots and hawks, throwing stones as projectiles: "(...) declined Captain Bras Soares de Sousa from where the artillery is below the port (...). In this way, it is accepted that the primitive construction of the fort dates back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, or more probably to the second half of the same century, when the Captain-Major João Falcão de Sousa, 10th captain of the granary of Santa Maria (1654-1657), he held the position of Superintendent of the Fortification Works of the island.

The above information was extracted from Wikipedia.

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.

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.

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 view our entire set of images from Ponta Delgada, click here