March 18 - 31, 2010
$5,950 per person
(based on double occupancy)

An afternoon flight starts us on our way to Honolulu and then on to Boston.  Because we cross more than one time zone, we will arrive in Boston tomorrow.

Because our flight from Hawaii arrives in the morning and we have nearly a twelve hour wait in Boston, we will go to a hotel to relax, rest, have a shower and something to eat before returning to the airport and our next flight .  With our flight onward to Funchal leaving in the  evening,  our arrival will be tomorrow morning. 

After our arrival, we’ll go straight to our hotel to relax after our long flight from Hawaii.  Funchal is the capital city of the Madeira Islands on the island of Madeira and is located just off the coast of West Africa north of the Spanish Canary Islands.  It is south of the Azores.  Politically an autonomous region of Portugal, it is 37 miles long and 13 miles wide with a population of about 260,000.  With a climate similar to Hawaii, being neither too hot nor too cold the year round, it is a popular tourist haven.

For the Portuguese of Hawaii, it is one of the islands that, by the 1850s, were sending Portuguese families to Hawaii.  Known in the Hawaiian language as “Pokiki”, records show that in 1853 there were eighty six Portuguese on the island of Oahu.

Our hotel will be the Quinta do Perestrello(or similar) for the next two nights with daily buffet

Breakfast.  Dinner will be served at our hotel tonight

Breakfast will be served at the hotel.  Today we’ll have a full day of touring.  We’ll head to Camara de Lobos, the fishing village which is known for catching the famous “espada” or black scabbard.  This fish is typically served with bananas locally.  Ahead is the Cabo Girao said to be Europe’s highest sea cliff at over 1900 feet and continue our trip along the coast to Ribeira Brava.  From Ponta de Sol we begin our climb to the Paul da Serra plateau at some 4500 feet.   We descend to Porto Moniz where you see the natural pools.  The return to Funchal is along the northern coast, passing Seixal and Sao Vicente.  Finally, we climb to Encumeada where you have a view of the sea on both coasts

Enjoy Breakfast before we leave.  We’re moving on to Lisbon this morning.   Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal with a population of 564,477.  It is the political center of the country, seat of the government and residence of the Head of State.  One note of interest is the fact that the city is rich in architecture.  You can find Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, Baroque, Traditional Portuguese, Modern and Post-Modern structures all over the city.

While our afternoon is free, we can use this time to have a look around our hotel and do a little shopping at the same time.  Ceramics and textiles are said to be the products Portugal is best known for.  Dinner will be served at the hotel tonight.

Our hotel for the next three nights is Hotel Mundial(or similar) with daily buffet Breakfast

Have your Breakfast before we leave on our morning tour of the city.  Among the sights we’ll see are Belem, the historical section of the City, and the Tower of Belem.  The tower was built in tribute to the patron saint of the city, St. Vicente, and was part of a three fortress defence of the Tagus River estuary.  Another sight to be seen is the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, a modern monument dedicated to the Portuguese maritime discoveries. Also to be seen is the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (Monastery of the Jeronimos), a UNESCO World Heritage site and the best example of Manueline art.  We’ll walk through Alfama, the oldest and most picturesque area of Lisbon and see Praca do Comercio, the largest and most beautiful square in Lisbon.

The afternoon is free for all to relax or continue to explore the city.  Whatever you do, be sure to return to the hotel in time to go out to see a Fado Show with Dinner.  It’s a chance to hear some Portuguese music and enjoy a meal as well

Don’t miss Breakfast before we leave the hotel.  This full day tour takes us first to the world famous pilgrimage site of Fatima, Where “Our Lady” appeared in 1917 to three children. The children themselves possessed limitations when Mary visited them. Several scholars have reported that one child, Lucia, could see, walk with, and hear her; another child, Jacinta, could see and hear her; the third child, Francisco, could only see her. You’ll have time in Fatima to visit the Shrine, maybe even attend a mass and enjoy some lunch(included).  Just outside Fatima is Ajulstrel where you’ll see the houses of the three shepherd children – Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta – to whom the vision of “Our Lady” appeared.
 
Ahead is Alcobaca and the World Heritage monastery, Mosteiro de Santa Maria. Founded in 1178,   it remains to this day, inspite of its Baroque façade and latter-day overlay, a Cistercian monument to simplicity and majesty.  It is here in the transept that the Gothic tombs of two star-crossed lovers, King Pedro I and Ines de Castro, the Romeo and Juliet of Portuguese history, can be found. 

Ahead is Nazare, a picturesque fishing village.  Our final stop is at Obidos.  This fortified village of whitewashed houses and narrow streets has a distinctly medieval atmosphere about it. 

Have your Breakfast before we leave the hotel.  We’re leaving the Portuguese mainland and going out to the first of three islands in the Azores.  This is another area that sent Portuguese citizens to Hawaii. Located some 930 miles due east and 2 hours flying time from Lisbon, the Azores are comprised of some 9 islands. The first island we’ll visit is Faial Island, it is some 13 miles long and 8 miles wide with a population of 16,000.  It was originally settled by the Flemish in the 15th Century and was named Sao Luis. (The Flemish were from the county of Flanders in the Northern Dutch speaking part of Belgium.)

The Azores are another autonomous region and we are going to their seat of government on the Island of Faial.   Along with the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores, together they form, with continental Portugal, the Portuguese Republic.          

On Faial Island, we will be staying in the city of Horta.  We’ll find the houses here decorated in different shades of blue, dividing the fields and lining the roadsides, giving Faial the name of Blue Island.  (Still, another account for the name is the large quantity of Hygrangeas that bloom here during the summer.)  And, after our arrival, we will have some free time to explore in and around our hotel.                                                  

Our hotel for the next three nights is Residencial Sao Francisco(or similar) with daily buffet Breakfast.

After Breakfast we have a half day tour of the island.    We’ll head towards Espalamanca, taking the
Mountain road overlooking the Valley of Flamengos, towards Caldeira, the highest point on the island.  The Caldeira is an enormous crater measuring some 6560 fee in diameter and 1300 feet in depth. We’ll continue north to Ponta dos Capilinhos where you’ll see the remains of the last volcanic eruption in 1957. The landscape there was transformed with fields and homes being buried. Yet, the old lighthouse can still be seen. There is a museum there where we can learn more about the volcano.

The afternoon is free for some time on our own. 

Enjoy your Breakfast first this morning.  We’ve a full day’s tour to Pico Island which we will reach by a 30 minute ferry ride.  Pico Island is the second largest island in the Azores being 26 miles in length and 9 miles in width with a population of 15,000 people.  The island is dominated by the mountain, Pico, which rises some 7,700 feet from sea level and is the highest peak in all of Portugal. 

Once we’ve arrived on Pico Island, we travel to Sao Roque, the first of three municipalities on the island via Cabeco do Chao.  We’ll stop enroute and visit Cachorro.  In Sao Roque, we visit the old whale factory. Then, we leave from Cais do Pico via the mountain road through the Lagoa do Capitao and arrive at Lajes do Pico, the second municipality,  where we visit the whale museum.  We return to Madalena, the third municipality,  by way of the south road and visit the local cheese factory.  The next stop is at Verdelho wine cellar and at Madalena church.  By late afternoon we’ll catch the ferry to return to Faial. 

Our visit to the last island in our tour begins with Breakfast at our hotel.  We’ll return to the airport for our flight to Sao Miguel.  This island at 40 miles in length and 10 miles in width is the most populated with some 140,000 inhabitants and is the administrative capital of the Azores. 

Besides its natural beauty, as we’ve seen is common to both of the other islands we have just visited,  has two outstanding tourist attractions, the famous Lagoa do Fogo and the Caldeiras das Furnas.  Originally two separate islands, a volcanic eruption in 1563 joined them together and, at the same time, created an inland lake(Lagoa do Fogo) with narrow sandy beaches.  During this period the Caldeiras das Furnas was created. The numerous hot steaming geysers provide therapeutic mud and mineral water to be used in the local spas.  In fact, the northern shores of the lake provide hot steam that is used to make a traditional local meat stew.

After our arrival, we’ll go to our hotel in Ponta Delgada, Hotel do Colegio(or similar) for our last two nights.  This hotel will also provide us with a daily buffet Breakfast.

With Breakfast under our belts, we can start our full day tour of Furnas.  We’ll start out along the south coast road, pass the village of Lagoa and the viewpoint of Caloura, and stop at Vila Franca, the island’s first capital, for a visit and a coffee break.  When we arrive at the valley of Furnas to visit its famous lake, we’ll see the hot springs and the boiling ground where delicious meals are cooked underground.  Since the cooking can take up to 6 hours, a Cozido nas Caldeiras lunch which can include beef and pork, vegetables, sausage and rice creates a very tasty meal with very tender meat.
We will certainly enjoy this lunch.  With lunch done, we continue on to the village of Furnas to visit the botanical gardens and the mineral water springs.  Our tour takes across to the north coast for a stop at a tea plantation which produces the famous “Perl” variety grown here in the Ribeira Grande area.  If there is time, we may be able to try a drink called “Canarios” which blends the juice of three fruits grown in the Azores, pineapple, “maracuja” and “amora”.  Before returning to the hotel, we’ll stop at the Santa Iria viewpoint where you have a magnificent view of the northern coast and the Atlantic ocean and the many cultivated fields of tea below us.  Dinner is included tonight.

Please enjoy your last Breakfast today.  We’ll have a morning tour to the twin lakes of Sete Cidades(seven cities).  The climb is steep up from the coast to this viewpoint.  This stop at the Vista do Rei viewpoint gives us a beautiful view of the twin lakes below and the surrounding area. The huge volcanic crater is home to the two lakes, Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde and, from the color of the water, it is easy to see which is the Blue Lake and which is the Green Lake.  The surrounding mountains are huge and steep, covered in different shades of green and often shrouded in mist.  Legend has it that the lakes were created when a princess and her lover, a shepherd boy, were forced to part from each other.  The lakes were created from their tears and each is the color of their eyes.  A stop in Capelas allows us to see the unique pineapple plantation which grows the fruit in green houses. 

Later in the afternoon, we’ll return to the airport for our flight back to Boston.  Our flight departs this evening from Ponta Delgada with a late evening arrival in Boston.  After we gather our bags, we’ll go to our hotel for the night, Courtyard Boston South Hotel (or similar).

Breakfast is on your own this morning, but you may want to wait until we check in at the airport for our flight back to Hawaii since we’ll have to be at the airport very early. Once we check in and go to our boarding gate area, you can relax and have something to eat.  Remember, now that we are back in the US, no meals will be served free on the flight so you may want to buy something to eat onboard the flight. 

Our arrival back in Hilo should be about 5:00pm in the afternoon.  With our return, our Tour to Portugal will come to an end.  We hope you will have enjoyed your tour and, for some of you, had a chance to reconnect with your roots.