King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, Current Events Part 4: June - July 2005

[lula]

More from terra:

 

[lula]

From Hola:

The Kings visit Horta in their second day in the Azores
The Kings of Spain visited today Horta, the capital of the island Faial, the Blue Island, together with the president of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, and his wife, Maria Jose Ritta on the second day of the private visit that don Juan Carlos and dona Sofía realize to the archipelago of the Azores. In the Blue Island, the monarches visited a museum that exhibits artistic objects realized with bones of cachalot or shark.

 

[marezdote]

From Terra.

 

[Elsa M.]

http://actualidad.terra.es/articulo/html/av2425078.htm

The Kings, who today visited the islands of Faial and Pico, confessed that they were feeling so nice in Açores, and so impressed by its calm way of life and its exuberant landscape, that they promised to return: 'I am enjoying very much’, said the King in the presence of president Sampaio.

In this second day in Açores, and after visiting yesterday the island Terceira, the Kings and their hosts, the Portuguese president and his wife, Maria José Ritta, travelled to Faial and, from there, by boat, to the island of Pico. Before landing at this island, in the port of Madalena, the president of Portugal said to the journalists that this visit will contribute 'without any doubt, to narrow the already tight relations, between both countries, which are friends and neighbours’.

At mid-morning, the retinue arrived at Horta, capital of Faial, after travelling by airplane from Terceira. There, in that small and marine locality, with little less than seven thousand inhabitants, the Kings had opportunity to know how, until few years ago, whales were captured in the waters of this archipelago. The boats that, until the 60’s, used to search the great cetaceans are now loaded of tourists carrying photo and video cameras and waiting to see the whales. The bones and teeth of the sperm whales and whales captured with harpoon were used by the islanders to make artistic utensils of daily use. The Kings contemplated an exhibition of that delicate crafts in a small museum in front of to the port of Horta, in the same house where there is, since 1918, the Peter’s Coffee, a well-known coffee shop, frequented by all those who cross the Atlantic in candle boats.

In order that the travel happens without problems, the villagers advise the navigators to leave a draw on the walls and grounds of the docks, that are today completely painted.

From this placid village located in the island of Faial, well-known as the Blue Island, one can see a beautiful panoramic view of Pico, dominated by the mountain that bears the same name and that, with its 2351 meters, is the highest of Portugal. Today, although it was sunny, the clouds covered this mountain of volcanic origin and that is usually covered with snow, during the winter.

In Pico, the Kings could see how their inhabitants - little more than 14000 people, living in almost 450 kilometres of surface - have made the vines to grow in fields of lava and volcanic ashes; a grape with which they make a very appreciated wine. The Kings proved them in lunch time, which took place in the Museum of Wine. That landscape of green vineyards and black earth has been declared by UNESCO Patrimony of the Humankind.

From the island of Pico, the Kings travelled to the island of São Miguel, the greatest and most populated one of the whole archipelago, in whose capital, Ponta Delgada, there was a dinner tonight, offered by the insular authorities. The Kings, who tomorrow in the evening will return to Mallorca, and the Sampaios crossed the historical centre of the city, in a carriage that took them until the door of the hotel, where they are lodged.

 

[marezdote]

From Reuters via Yahoo News

 

[Squidgy]

A few more from Colourpress ...

 

[marezdote]

Thanks for the colourpress pics Squidgy!

 

[mtbcm]

From destak.pt (a free portuguese newspaper distributed on trains in Lisbon and Oporto)



Queen Sofia is so elegant and they all seem to spend great time in Azores.

Regards.

 

[fanletizia]

Dinner in honour of the King and Queen of Spain, from terra

 

[Squidgy]

A few more from Colourpress ...

 

[Elsa M.]

Thanks for the photos.
I love the way Queen Sofia holds the child who asked her to pose with him:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=174273


Another couple of photos from yesterday. From Starface:

 

[Elsa M.]

http://actualidad.terra.es/articulo/html/av2426254.htm

The Kings concluded today their first trip to Açores with a visit to the volcanic place of Furnas, in the south of the island of São Miguel, where the exuberant nature of the archipelago reaches all its splendour. The Furnas is one of the most humid and tempering sites of the this island (which is the greatest and most populated one of Açores), gathering thr propitious circumstances to a leafy vegetation, among which abound the hortensias, ferns, pines, palms, camellias or the azaleas and many other species.

The Kings, accompanied by the Portuguese president, Jorge Sampaio, and his wife, Maria José Ritta, flew over the area by helicopter, before strolling by some of the most impressive places of this zone of volcanic craters. In the heart of one of them (of about 80 square kilometres), there is the lagoon of Furnas, where both the couples stopped to calmly contemplate the beauty of this place, where the scent to sulphur impregnates the atmosphere, and where the water boils, just a few centimetres down the ground.

There they could see how people cook, in those holes done in the Earth, one of the most typical plates of São Miguel, the 'cozido nas caldeiras'. During five or six hours, the ingredients of this succulent plate (meat and vegetables are cooked in an aluminium pot that is surrounded by a coat and introduced in a hole excavated on the earth) that is cooked in the heat that emanates from the subsoil.

In Furnas, there are natural ferruginous water swimming pools with therapeutic properties and thermal stations that are very concurred by Portuguese people and the tourists who visit the island.

The Kings spent all the morning in Furnas, where they concluded their visit to Açores, which began last Wednesday in Terceira. Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía shall thus arrive in Palma de Mallorca in the evening.
Sampaio wanted to show the archipelago of Açores to his friends, the Kings of Spain, before concluding in March 2006 his second presidential mandate. Last night, during the dinner offered to the Kings in the Palace of Santa Ana, headquarters of the Presidency of the Government of this independent region, the King and Sampaio agreed in emphasizing the need to intensify the relations between both countries, who are friends and neighbours, in fully respect to the identities of each one, emphasized the Portuguese president. Spain and Portugal, said the King last night, 'understand each other, they lean and they cooperate in infinity of themes'.

This morning, few hours before the departure and before the journalists, both insisted once again on those same ideas, about which they had opportunity to talk during these three days. 'We took advantage of the occasion to speak of many matters, as two good friends', added the King. During this first trip to Açores, the only Portuguese territory that they didn’t know yet, the Kings visited four of the nine islands of this Atlantic archipelago: Terceira, Faial, Pico and São Miguel. What the Kings have seen these three days has pleased them so much that they promised to return, with more calm, confessed yesterday both the King and the Queen, before the journalists who have followed the trip. 'It’s been a fantastic visit, we are enchanted for coming’, said today the King in perfect Portuguese, a language that he speaks since his childhood.


KJC, QS and the Sampaios visit the Furnas. Photos from Terra:

 

[rchainho]

Dinner in honour of the King and Queen of Spain, from terra

the queen and josé Ritta are fabulous.

 

[rchainho]

http://www.da.online.pt/news.php?id=88016&w=juan%20carlos

Spanish monarchs visit today freguesia of the Furnas

Regional N. C. /Lusa 29/07/2005 08:07:8

The private visit of the Kings of Spain is it stir up a huge curiosity in the Azorean population. After they will have state in the islands Third, Faial and Peak, today the monarchs finish to their visit of vacation in Saint Miguel, having stayed lodged in a hotel of the Group “Bensaúde”, as well as the President of the Republic. This morning, Juan Carlos and Sofia dislocate itself to the freguesia of the Furnas, famous by the fumarolas volcanic that serve for concoct the traditional stew, one of the most known typical plates of the archipelago. Yesterday, the Spanish monarchs were in three of the nine islands of the Azores, beginning the day in the Faial, with a visit to the Coffee Peter¦s, world famous by be a point of meeting of velejadores that cross the Atlantic one, where took a gin tónico, and visited the Museum of Srimshaw (painting in bone and tooth of whale). Around two hundreds of persons did question of see the kings of Spain and of I applaused them to their arrival to the coffee, and was in this localities of stop that, by the first time, the kings conversed with the journalists. Juan Carlos, that spoke in Portuguese, underlined that is it like very of be in the Region, recollecting that the father already to have visited the islands in 1958. It spoke also of the emotion of be with Jorge Sampaio, his big friend, and expect to come back to the archipelago for other vacation. Already in Spanish, the Queen Sofia also manifested his enjoyment by step to soil Azorean and classified the islands visited as “marvelous”, expecting also come back a day.
To short visit of the monarchs to the city of the Garden, always accompanied by the President of the Republic and by Maria Joe Ritta, was surrounded of security measures fortresses. The parking in the localities was prohibited and some vehicles even were towed by the PSP, before of the arrival of the monarchs. After the convívio, the kings of Spain followed for the Marine one of the Garden, where will embark in the "Cruiser of the Conduit", one of the embarkations of passengers that links the islands of the Central Group, in order to will follow for the island of the Peak, where is situated the point more high of Portugal. During part of the journey that separates the two islands of the Azores that stayed more near between itself (five maritime miles), the embarkation in that followed was "escorted" by a set of ten of rowboats baleeiros, the mesmos that were utilized, to there are two decades behind, in the hunts to the whale, however prohibited in the archipelago. Several embarkations of recreation, around a set of ten of kayaks and some launch of support accompanied also breaks of the journey of the kings of Spain to the Peak, island that saw the landscape protected of the culture of the vine to be classified like Património World to the night, already in Thin Tip, were them invited of honor of a supper offered by the president of the Regional Government of the. Open the supper, the president of the Azorean Government, Carlos César, the president of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio, and the Spanish monarch drove itself to them invited, in short interventions of toasts. The Kings of Spain were always accompanied by the President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio, having watched in the Wednesday to a bullfight to the cord in the city of Cove of the Heroism, one of the main cultural manifestations of the island Third, to that also watched the leader of the Azorean Executive, that interrupted the vacation for receive the monarchs. This was one of the points that filled the first day of the private visit of three days that the King Juan Carlos and the Queen Sofia are it perform to the archipelago of the Azores. The Kings of Spain watched to the bullfight in a varandah of a private house in the Square of Saint Blessed, where were applaused by some of the hundreds of persons that were driven to the localities with hours of advance. During the bullfight, organized specifically for the visit of the Kings of Spain, were run four bulls created in the island Third by ganadeiros local. Before of the bullfight, the King Juan Carlos and the Queen Sofia strolled for the center of Cove of the Heroism, classified like Património World since 1983, where conversed with the population, including a Spanish doctor that work in the hospital of the island Third, with around 55 thousand inhabitants. During the late, that was still taken advantage of for a visit to the Church of the Mercy and to the Convent of Saint Gonçalo, the kings, always accompanied by Jorge Sampaio and Maria Joe Ritta, did a pause in the walk, remaining in an esplanada during some minutes. The visit to the Third awoke some curiosity in
the population, that tried to accompany to journey of the Spanish monarchs, that were, for times, applaused. Interesting was the fact of the terceirenses will have received D. Juan Carlos and Owner Sofia with bedspreads in the window, a sign of respect and consideration.

 

[marezdote]

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=174317 Sofia is taking pictures again. Perhaps if she hadn't married Juan Carlos she would have been a photographer

 

[rchainho]

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=168509&idCanal=133

Kings of Spain try gin of the Peter' s

Jorge Sampaio, Sofia, Maria Joe Ritta and Juan Carlos The kings of Spain – Juan Carlos and Sofia –, that are us Azores accompanied by Jorge Sampaio and Maria Joe Ritta, experienced yesterday the famous one gin tónico of the Coffee Peter' s, bar in the island of the Faial world known by be a point of meeting between the velejadores that travel through the Atlantic Ocean.
“Healthy, a lot taste very pretty islands. It is a lot tranquilo”, highlighted Juan Carlos, that assured that is going to come back to the Azores. Yesterday, the kings of Spain also visited the island of the Peak.

 

[rchainho]

Hi:

I just want to ask portuguese members of this forum, if they would buy portuguese magazines with the kings next week, can post then the reports here please? Thanks.

P.S. I'm going abroad tomorrow and it's impossible to me to do that.

 

[Squidgy]

... a few more pictures from Colourpress ...

 

[Elsa M.]

Thank you very much, Squidgy! Nice shots!
I also saw them on T.V. and it was very funny, because Sofia didn't stop taking photos for a single while. She even played with the journalists, as she tried to take a pic of them, when they were interviewing King Juan Carlos and president Sampaio.

 

[Elsa M.]

And there we are at 10th page.
Thank you all, who have shared your thoughts and pictures with all of us.
The new thread can be found at:

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=251516#post251516