But wait, there’s more…

This must mean we are up to day 5.  This is the day we took a tour around the island.  Here I am with one of my favorite views behind me.

 

Here is that same view, only better, because I am not blocking it.

As we headed up and around the northern coast, we stopped off in Biscoitos.  Here I am with my MIL at the natural swimming hole.

Note to self, careful on anything green like this near water…you will probably slip!

As we continued our drive we mentioned how we had not been stopped by any “cow parades” yet.  Ah, we spoke to soon.  We were greeted with this.  Yes, we had to stop, and not just to let them by, but because pictures were really necessary.  Trust me, you would stop too for the photo op.

We had some cows…

a donkey…

a baby cow…

and a goat!

Once we were able to press on we kept heading around the outside of the island.  We stopped at a few more look out points for great ocean views.

Next stop: cheese factory.  Here you can see they are making cheese.  There is milk dripping out and being collected below.

Since it was almost time for lunch, we didn’t want to eat too much, but we did get 2 yogurts that are made right there at the factory.  I should mention this is not what you would think of when you hear factory because it is very small and mostly a cafe/bar, but they do make cheese and yogurt here.

At the end of the road with the cheese factory is another natural swimming hole.  Ryan and the guys once spear fished here, and I snorkeled.

Here I am again with that amazing looking ocean behind me.

 

After that we headed around to lunch on the south side of the island.  As we were driving we tried out a new direction and found this insanely old church building.  It is no longer in use because it is sort of falling apart.

Too bad the place we wanted to take them to for lunch was closed.  At least there was another place nearby that I had been wanting to try.

I thought there menus were nice with the backs of the pages information on the fish they carried on their menu.

 

This was a traditional meal with bread and cheese to start.

 

Ryan’s mom and aunt both had an omelet for lunch.

 

Ryan had a Portuguese steak.

I had salad with the boca negra.

 

We wanted to have lunch in Sao Mateus because there is a locally made ice cream shop there.  As I was waiting for everyone else to come out from the restaurant, I stood outside to enjoy the weather, and Ryan and I spotted this emblem on the church.  Since this is a major fishing town, I liked that this had an anchor on it.

 

Ah, there’s the ice cream.  To me it is a little more like sherbet.

 

We drove home by completing the circle around the island.  This allowed for us to show them Split Rock.  Isn’t that crazy?  It is just a split rock hanging out off the coast of the island.

After a long day of sightseeing, and driving for me, Ryan’s mom and aunt prepared us dinner.  They made a homemade tomato sauce and served it with pasta.  It was a nice and relaxing way to end the day.

The next day was their last day visiting.  We decided to do last minute shopping.  This meant we were headed to Praia, so Make Me Nuts made sense for breakfast.  It looks like a Dunkin Donuts that serves McDonald’s style breakfasts too.

These cupcakes looked good, but it was TOO early for that kind of thing.

However, apparently not to early for this (which was Ryan’s but he was nice enough to share).

Ryan’s mom and aunt both had the veggie omelet on a roll.  They never cease to amaze me on this island.  This veggie omelet was not even remotely close to what you would expect in a veggie omelet.  It was a frozen veggie mix with green beans, carrots, peas, and maybe broccoli.

Ryan and I both ordered the pancake and egg breakfast combo.

Although I did not take any pictures while we were shopping, I assure you we did.  It’s just that food pictures are easier to take and more exciting most of the time.  So, here is lunch, which we had at the soup and salad place.  This is one of the best places on the island.

Here is my small salad plate and then Ryan’s small salad plate.  Basically with a small plate you can pick out any 3 of the 8 salads she has made for the day.  Everything is made fresh in the morning, and when it is gone, it’s gone.  My salad had a tomato and mozzarella salad, pears and blue cheese salad with balsamic, and a lettuce with feta cheese salad.  Ryan had the same lettuce salad, but then added a bean salad and a pasta and (?) chicken salad.

Now you really aren’t going to believe, but we did rest some before dinner.

 

I wasn’t going to take any pictures at all because Ryan and I ate here the week before, but I went with the special, which included the couvert (bread and butter), entree and a dessert, all for 10 euro (about $13-14).  All 3 of us ladies ordered the abrotea (breaded and fried white fish fillet) with a side of shrimp rice.  So beautiful looking!

 

Here was the standard dessert they give for this special.  While it is not their best dessert, it was still good.

 

Can you believe we got all that food for 10 euro?  I think it was a good deal.  Plus, if there are leftovers, the abrotea reheats really well.

ATTENTION: I am still looking for guest bloggers for the month of May as I will be traveling for most of the month.

QUESTIONS:  Do you have a local dairy?  What’s your favorite kind of salad?