Sunday April 26th, 2026 Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Azores (Portugal)
- Neil Wylie
- Jan 30
- 3 min read
The beautiful verdant island of São Miguel is part of the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean; the Azores are an autonomous region of Portugal which is 870 miles to the east – Ponta Delgada is the largest town on the island, and it is the capital of the Azores. We visited Ponta Delgada for 2 days last year at the end of our South American voyage; it was a weekend and we spent the Saturday on an excursion to the crater lakes of Sete Cidades and on the Sunday we explored the town.
So today we found ourselves once again visiting Ponta Delgada on a Sunday, and it being a very catholic place, almost all of the shops and many of the restaurants were closed. With a little early research I had picked out a promising place for lunch but before then we took a wander through the town. Unfortunately the Queen Anne had been assigned the worse of the two available berths in the port; an MSC ship was docked at the more favorable spot that afforded a short, direct walk into town. We were docked across the harbor and had to take a short shuttle bus that dropped us at fort São Brás on the western edge of town; just a small inconvenience.
Ponta Delgada is quite a picturesque little town with narrow alleyways, several plazas, the striking 3-arches city gates and the gothic-style church of St. Sebastian. The sidewalks are all constructed of black and white stones arranges in linear patterns, very similar to those seen in mainland Portugal. Local lore holds that the more white stones that are contained in the pathways, the more wealthy the community – as all of the white stones have to be imported from Portugal.
We wandered through the alleys and stopped briefly in a tiny café for an awful coffee then on to a small park with beautiful spring flowers blooming, a joyful sight. Church bells were ringing from several directions, calling the faithful to mass; we normally like to visit historical churches but have a rule of not interfering in any active ceremonies – so today we just admired the churches from the outside. Despite the presence of two cruise ships, including the massive 6000 passenger MSC Meraviglia, the town was not very crowded – maybe a lot of passengers had taken shore excursions to the interior of the island like we did last year.
Our reserved 1PM time rolled around and we headed to the Louvre Michaelense Bar for lunch. Located up a narrow street just a block from the main plaza and the harbor, the Louvre Michaelense was a lively bar with tables spilling out into the street and a small interior space just oozing with character. The clientele was a good mix of locals and tourists with attentive staff that spoke only broken English. The limited small-plate menu, supplemented with a daily “specials” board, was brimming with local produce and looking around at the other tables my mouth began to water; we picked three items and ordered some local wine then sat back in anticipation.
The Azores are renowned for dairy products; there are very strict rules regarding the raising of dairy cattle (each one is named) and the milk produced is considered the best in all of Portugal. Our order of sourdough bread with olives contained a good large pat of local butter and it was amazing, smooth and creamy with just a touch of salt – heaven on the tongue. Of course we had to have a cheese platter with three cheeses, all local, and more sourdough; the cheeses were divine, I especially liked the aged cheddar-like variety – tangy with just the right amount of sharpness. Our third dish was an unusual tomato salad that combined tangy ripe cherry tomatoes with a very thick balsamic dressing – it was amazing and like nothing I’ve had before. The wine was recommended by our server, it was a Copo Branco which I think just means white wine in Portuguese, it was light and crisp - I had two glasses. We had a good run at the food but could still not finish, we left feeling very full and happy.
More wandering and soaking up the atmosphere and then we made our way back to the shuttle bus. We really enjoyed Ponta Delgada, it’s a great cruise stop with a fantastic, easily accessible, town and much to see in the interior of the island.
Comments