Autonomous Region of the Azores (Açores), Portugal

The outermost region of the European Union.

The view above is looking down over Sete Cidades. For the pressed penny (pressed euro cents in this case) fans out there, this town has an off-the-map machine. It’s located in the Green Love Restaurant.

It’s difficult to illustrate how beautiful Lagoa das Furnas is. The definition of calm. I think it’s “Furnace Lagoon”. The town that follows has a bunch of volcanic hot springs and spas.

Next, we went over to Ilha do Pico for some whale-watching. We did indeed see some whales and dolphins, but we were a few weeks late to see the blue whales.

On this island, all cars are stick-shift. I hadn’t driven one in years, but the skills came back after 10 minutes or so (though I did learn to drive on one).

We got to the little hotel and discovered we were supposed to have told them we would order dinner. They threw together some salad and cold cuts for us—it was fine. The next day:

Back in Ponta Delgada, we found a BYD dealership surrounded by calçada portuguesa.