Ah, Sao Jorge. The land of more cows than people, fajas, cheese that is often imitated but never duplicated, and the nicest people we’ve met so far. Yesterday we left Faial on a ferry that took us to Sao Jorge, which took about 2 hours (it stopped in Pico first). Poor Michael got VERY seasick. Our dreams of sailing the high seas with Genuino for 21 months went right out the window. Maybe it’s something you get used to?

As we were pulling into the harbour at Sao Jorge, we saw dolphins jumping out of the water and riding the wake of the ferry!We were picked up by a local guy who is friends with an owner of a tour company. He said he sometimes helps his friend out when he has too many people on a tour, so in the end we got a private tour with a local who is not in the tourism industry – jackpot! He was great. Really nice guy and liked our jokes, which is rare.We went to the factory that makes the cheese, got a tour and tasted the cheese after. This cheese is so yummy – it’s sort of peppery and gets moreso with age. We bought a whole bunch to bring back with us. We had to wear full body coverings to not contaminate the cheese, and couldn’t take pictures inside the factory:There were some other people on the cheese tour with us, who also happened to be from Toronto! They were a little curious as to why we were in the Azores since we’re not Portuguese. I guess they thought it was their little secret!Our next stop was a church that burned down by lava. The tower didn’t get destroyed at all, and everyone thinks it’s because of Jesus. We saw a church that was actually really beautiful and was full of baroque art. We learned of the story of Santa Barbara, who is basically Rapunzel but in the end her dad has her executed and he gets struck by lightning. So not the Disney version.We were supposed to have lunch at a buffet place as part of the tour, but our driver refused to let us eat at a buffet because the food would be picked through, cold and bad. So he took us to a place in his town that sadly didn’t have any fish because the fishing boat didn’t catch any that day. That’s how fresh everything is. He asked if we’d be ok with beef (from the happy cows on the island) and something that he was unable to describe in English. We said sure! Turns out that other thing was… Octopus. Still delicious but this is our 5th octopus meal and we need a break. The beef was really flavourful although a bit chewy. That’s what happens when cows roam wherever they want and aren’t stuck in cages all day.Next, we went to the only coffee plantation in Portugal. Plantation is the wrong word for it. It’s just some guy who has 600 coffee trees, and has a cafe where he serves the coffee. He doesn’t export it at all. It was delicious! Even better were the queijadas with coffee in them. Our guide was buddies with the owner, so he took us on a little walk up to the coffee trees. Look at that crema:We were taken all over the island. It’s absolutely stunning here and smells amazing – like mint and flowers and freshness. The photos don’t do it justice but here you go anyway:Fajas, seen in some of the pictures above, are seaside towns. Some of them are entirely inaccessible by car. You need to walk, boat, or take an ATV to get there. They are quite small and some of them have lagoons in them.After a very long day, we went to the hotel and relaxed while we watched the sun set. The hotel has 2 ponds and a great view of the ocean and Pico:We were very hungry but also didn’t want to eat octopus again. So we went out for hamburgers, expecting the worst. But these burgers must be made with meat from the island, because they were delicious! Michael’s had an egg in it that was dark orange (a good sign). Then we walked up the hill to our hotel, watched the sun set, and went to bed! Pretty good for one day.