Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
Originally, this was meant to be just a little relaxed travel piece after all those posts dedicated to the recent and current happenings on the chains but then, the @pinmapple team (former @steemitworldmap) let me know that they are actually hosting a very nice travel challenge here on Hive called Taking Mr. Pinmapple on a trip so I edited it to make this post my entry for the challenge :)
You can find out more about the challenge here.
I think there are just very few people who don´t like pineapples. This exotic tropical fruit is popular all over the world but because it requires very specific conditions to grow (mostly in terms of climate and soil), it can only be cultivated in certain regions. In Europe, for example, there is just one place where pineapples are produced for mass consumption and the place is called the Azores Islands. Yep, that is exactly where I am based right now :)
As a matter of fact, the local climate is not perfect for pineapple production either as it rains a lot in here and the temperatures are often not high enough for the fruit to flourish but the Azorean farmers are known to be very resourceful so they started this tradition of growing the pineapples in greenhouses here.
There are many pineapple greenhouses plantation on the Azores Islands and I visited one of them here in Ponta Delgada, the capital city of the Sao Miguel Island a couple of weeks ago so let me now show you a few photos that I took there.
And this is what the pineapples look like when they are ripe (or repining), harvested, boxed and ready to make someone happy :)
As you can see in the photo, the Azorean pineapples have these characteristic small crowns. They are also remarkably sweet and juicy. A significant part (I would even say a majority) of the harvested Azorean pineapples is exported to continental Europe, which is probably also why they are relatively expensive on the islands - they are often sold for around 4 EUR (USD) per kilo here. When living in Mexico, I remember buying pineapples for as little as some 10 Mexican Pesos (0.5 EUR or USD) per kilo so you have the idea...
I learned that the tradition of pineapple growing on the Azores Islands date back to the 19th century when it was a very lucrative business as there was not as much competition as there is now. Growing pineapples is not easy though as it can take up to 3 years for a single plant to produce a ripe fruit.
I was also surprised to find out that the locals actually call this fruit "ananas" and not "piña" (like the Spanish) because we also call this fruit "ananas" in my native Czech language that is otherwise completely different from the Portuguese.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour around a pineapple greenhouse plantation and that you learned something new about this popular fruit.
I think Mr. Pinmapple enjoyed this trip very much too because he got to meet so many friends over there :D He told me he particularly enjoyed the company of Mr. Pinsapple, Mr. Pindabble and Mr. Pindribble :D
I am really happy it was this pineapple piece that was my very first post to pin to @pinmapple :) Thank you guys for moving your amazing project over here to Hive.
This post was created by me for the Hive blockchain exclusively. All rights reserved.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know every user has their own profile map?
And so does every post as well!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Haha awesome, I am really happy you were the first comment under this post so that everyone can see the pineapple logo under the pineapple post :D Let me make sure it will stay like this by upvoting it ;) Seriously, guys, I am glad you are on Hive with us :)
Oh, look, my friends are up there, I can already recognize Pinsapple, Pindabble and Pindribble, good to see they're doing alright! 🤗
We are also glad to be here by the way, finally on a properly decentralized chain, now that's hype if you ask me! 😄
:DDD ...yep, all of them are here, safe and sound :D They say hi :D
Let me edit the post to make it a fully-fledged pineapple entry for your contest ;)
Hiya, @ItchyfeetDonica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #802.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Thanks you so much Donica and the Pinmaple Team :) Much appreciated.
Azores looks like a special place to live...
It is a special place indeed :) Thanks for stopping by and for migrating to Hive with us! ;)
Thanks my cats like it here in the hive 🙀🐱💻🦁
There you go :D This Hive is big enough for any creatures :D
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 56/64)
Thanks man! :)
You are welcome! :)
In my country pronounce Annasi to pineapple. Someone doesn't like but I really like to taste it. There were big pineapple harvest. Nice to see plantation.
Annasi? That´s interesting :) I would never say there are some similarities between my and the Sri Lankan language :D I love pineapples, definitely one of my favorite fruits :)
Ohhh I love this fruit, so Azores get one bonus point when I will be picking my new travel destination :)
Haha that´s right :) Well knowing your photo skills, I am sure you would take some astonishing landscape shots here ;)
AWESOME 😱
ANANAWESOME :D
😂
Haha, perfect first post for Pinmapple! 😁
You should've joined the contest with it, would've been perfect to see Mr. Pinmapple between the pineapples, haha!
Damn, I actually saw that challenge but I forgot about it... Can I just edit it? This one really seems to be a place that Mr. Pinmapple would enjoy :D
Yeah, I think editing would be alright! 😄
But make sure to add the tag within the first five though, so we can find the post!
Alright, will do! Thanks :)
I love me some pineapple! I like the clever packaging they have them in. They are usually just piled up in the stores here.
Yeah, they really handle the fruits with care here :) I am glad they use paper and not plastic for this unusual packaging though ;)
Pineapples are my favorite fruits,this ones looks more like the ones we have in Nigeria,was expecting a different shade though😋
Oh really? I would love to taste African pineapples, I have only had those from Central America and now these from Azores :))
Wow!! Just wow! Never seen how pineapples are growing and how they look like before buying one from a market. And I'm a big fan of pineapples. I mean I don't eat one very often since I have allergy but it's a fruit that I really enjoy 🍍
Oh I am sorry you have allergy to this fruit but I can understand that, pineapples can be very strong or even aggresive in taste :D I am not allergic to them but I often have a toothache after eating them as their acids erode my tooth enamel :D :/
Ouch.. I see. That really sounds like a serious problem not to eat a fruit, lol
Nice post! And how symmetrical and well organized is everything in that plantation!
That´s right :) I love symmetry so the plantation looked very good to me :D