New Year's day we slept in and lounged around the house before deciding to head to Praia da Vitoria for some dinner and a stroll along the beach and main square. Since the island is quite small, so are the major towns, and so are the main squares in each town. Praia and Angra are the major cities on the island, and Praia is closest to us. Praia means beach in Portuguese, and Praia also boasts the only naturally occurring sandy beach on the island. Angra is a World Heritage site, but has no real beach, so sand was brought in to make a beach here. As a result of the recent rain, there was sand blown all over the walkway, but it wasn't raining, so we were able to still enjoy a brief stroll by the ocean.
Here are some pictures of the lights up on the streets for the holidays.
Then we went to dinner at La Barca. Must have been the Super Mario Bros game again since we were in the mood for Italian again. At least we beat the game, but now we have the extra world to beat. Anywho, back to dinner at La Barca.
Bread and some funny little bread sticks...
This is one of my favorite dishes ever on this island. It is pasta with garlic and olive oil, and very light on the olive oil so it is not drippy or anything, and perfectly cookied veggies. I love that it has some black olives in it too.
Ryan had cheese tortellini with a spicy tomato sauce. This is the dish that leads to our culinary adventure, which I will share in my next post. I'm still exhausted from it.
This sign was hanging in the restaurant to show that they are serving salads from a local organic farm/market, which is located in the village that I live in.
We splurged on dessert as we stayed in on New Years. Ryan had tiramisu.
I had some chocolated cake. Super tasty!
I can't get over how cute their dessert forks are.
Coffee drink of course...
Then when we were done we walked up the street to the main square that leads to the long shopping street where no cars can drive. I love the cobblestone streets. This is the church in Praia in the square. Not sure where the colored fences around the square came from, but they must have something to do with the holidays since they are not usually there.
QUESTION: Do you have a town square or main street in your town/city?
16 comments:
Your night pictures are great! Did you use a tripod?
Baltimore has lots of squares/main street areas, with each neighborhood having its own gathering point. I think my favorite is the Square on Broadway in Fells Point. There's always something going on, and there is excellent gelato!
That fork is hilarious!! I would grab it and eat that cake so fast, Nick wouldn't even get a bite :)
We don't really have any nice town squares where I live, but Columbus has some main streets and town squares (of course, they aren't quaint and pretty like your pictures! They are full of loudness and craziness....). Some of the small suburbs have some nicer town squares, where it's much more peaceful and relaxing.
Love the lights and buildings at night! Pasta dishes look delicious too.
Your meal looks so delicious! And the desserts..I'm drooling.
You use to live in Vegas...the strip as our main street? Not as pretty as where you are in my opinion though.
lol the only town sguare I have is Times Square =)
You really take great pictures!
I heart all the eats on this post =)
LOVE the pics.. very very pretty! Your pasta dish and bread also looks incredibly comforting and delicious!
We have a main street about 10 minute walk from our house.. its on UNC's campus and is filled with awesome restaurants and cute shops! :)
Awesome pictures!
wow your new years looks great! that chocolate cake looks so decadent if i was a chocoholic i would be allllllll over that :) glad you had such a beautiful night
hahaha that fork is awesome! two prong fork! who knew that exsisted ?!
beautiful pics, everything looks so delicious its insannnee
That fork is what mine looked after my lunch today. Darn plastic ware!
The pasta look delicious! I am so jealous of your European delights! Mmm!!!
Haha, it's like a little pitch-fork! SO damn cute!
But I find it funny that they would serve you packaged bread sticks? Is that a rather popular brand?
love the coffee there
Happy New Year Melinda
love Rebecca
Ohhh, your photos are gorgeous!! Such amazing clarity for nighttime, too - you're very talented!
Your pasta dish looks SO gorgeous! I love the addition of the black olives too! :-) And oh, oh, the glorious chocolate cake... :-)
The town I grew up in has the greatest Main Street and village green. It is the town I measure every other town by!
That chocolate cake looks so good...that's what I would have picked too!
Whenever I read your blog and your adventures on the island, I always thing how grateful you will be one day to have documented this time in your life.
Can't wait to see the culinary adventure that has left you so exhausted!
Love the tiny dessert fork!! And let me guess, you make tortellini from scratch??
I got an antique pasta roller for Christmas, so my plan is to make homemade ravioli - although if I read your next post and its a pain, not sure what I'll do!
I live 55 miles NW of Chicago - our "Main Street" is exactly 1.5 blocks long!
Oh I miss the beach! Your dinner looks great! I miss pasta as well haha.
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