Our favorite story of our whole trip to the Azores took place at the restaurant Beira Mar, an indescript tiny hole in the wall seafood restaurant on the pier in the town center of Sao Mateus ~ where reservations were essential!

We didn’t have one~ \240but as we burst through the door in the pouring rain the owner took pity on us and found us a small corner table in the back. The seafood chowder in a bread bowl was beyond amazing and well needed in our drenched state. \240We vowed we would come back again and the owner said he would give us his best window table!

Two nights later we kept our promise and returned, \240dressed much more presentably this time, \240and ordered the local lobster. Our host’s face crumbled as he told us he was sold out. Then he brightened, \240and without a word he ran out of the restaurant and down the pier to a small shack at the water’s edge and came back triumphant with the biggest lobster we had ever seen wrapped in a towel. He presented this to us and asked us if this would do with a smile that spread from ear to ear.

This is the warmth and kindness of the Azorean people. The lobster too was amazing!