JUNE 16, 2018
June 15 was a travel day, as we flew to San Miguel Island and the town of Ponta Delgada, in the archipelago, the Azores. San Miguel, as I believe the other islands are, is volcanic in origin with very steep hillsides and great mountainous scenery, with trees and fields and we think herds of dairy cows.
The islands and the Azoreans have wineries, dairies, are known for their cheeses and have a thriving tourist economy. It’s not crowded yet, but our host says it’s gets very busy here in the summer. They also grow tea!!! And is the only European country to do so.
As usual on travel day we also did our stockup at the nearby mall/large grocery store, the Continente. They have everything – think Walmart!!!!
Looking forward to being here 6 nights, the longest we’ve stayed in one spot for some time. Time to relax and rest! As on Thursday Thom flies back to the US and I fly to France to meet Anne Purvis. We’re cruising on a LeBoat 43’ canal boat for 2 weeks!!! More to come!!!
Did a walkabout today to see the harbor and waterfront area. It’s a manmade harbor with some strange materials for supporting the seawalls. There’s an area that has been roped off for swimming with ladders and places to jump in. I can’t tell how deep it is but the water is beautifully clear. It was warm, so lots of people were swimming. I found a place to test the temperature and it’s not as cold as on mainland Portugal.
JUNE 18, 2018
Had a great conversation with our host yesterday and he mapped out places to see. We hired a car for 2 days and started off in the morning to see the west side of the island. This is a very green and tidy place. Stone walls everywhere, cows nearly everywhere and it’s all on big or small hills, with volcanic calderas and thermal seeps and pools.
We stopped for tremendous views and an abandoned 5 star hotel that was never completed. Started in the late 80s, the work was stopped and in 2011 it was completely abandoned. There’re trees and plants growing from everywhere, the roof, the balconies, etc. It was a mess but climbing up to the roof was worth it for the views down into the town of Lagoa Das Sete Cidades and lakes in the former volcanic caldera.
We stopped for lunch near the Ponta Da Ferraria Natural Swimming Pool where the thermal water meets the sea. It’s all very volcanic and hard to walk but fun to test out. We were 3 hours after low tide so warm water was not so present as the sea had risen and brought in the colder water. It was fun and something one should do when in the Azores!
JUNE 19, 2018
Day 2 of our tour of the island. Some great views from an overlook before stopping at the Gorreana tea factory. 45 hectares of cultivated hillside yields about 40 tons of tea. They make pekoe and green tea which are 2 very different processes for leaves from the same tea plant.
Then a beautiful drive up and over and around and ended up in Furnas. A place with good food at Tony’s restaurant where at lunch we were asked if we had a reservation!!! After lunch we found our way to the calderas where steam comes up from the earth. It’s bubbling hot and some smell of sulphur. It’s also a place where there are many taps for water – some plain mineral water, some hot, and some carbonated!!! Some has sulphur, and some is iron rich. It’s very easy to go to each and have a sip, or fill a bottle, and no two taste the same. Some taste awful and some is really good! We filled up 2 1L bottles. Interesting.
Then onto the Terra Nostra, a beautiful botanical garden in Furnas also featuring hot springs. We changed and wandered in. We were advised to go to the green ones, not the yellow ones or our suits would be permanently stained from the minerals. It wasn’t that crowded which was nice. The water was very hot – maybe 40C (104+). After changing we took a short walk through the park and saw some great trees!!
Next stop was a nearby lake also adjacent to thermal action. Again boiling cauldrons in the ground, with giant plumes of steam. Strange to us who had never seen such things.
The day was wrapping up and we were half an hour from a recommended restaurant on the coast not far from our place. What a pretty drive!!! On the way we say the nearest island, to the south, Santa Maria, about 50 miles away, and we were very high on the island to see it.
The restaurant was great, and next to a small fishing port and swimming pool supplied by the waves. I think it was cold, but people were swimming.
Great exploration!!!
JUNE 20, 2018
sooner as we don’t need to buy anything!!! The fish collection is amazing with great variety and some pretty ugly fish…. After a bit of lunch we wandered to the botanical garden next to our place.
It was founded by José do Canto, and has great variety of species. It’s interesting that a large number of trees are from Australia. The rose garden was pretty but seemed to be sparse and dry. Maybe that’s the way it is here as everywhere else it’s been very green.
We found the very small chapel on the way back out/down the hill and then headed back to our house to pack and get ready. Found a neat place to take a photo of a nearby cow how seemed quite happy to pose for me!!!
Tomorrow is off to meet Anne in Bordeaux France with an early 4:30 wake up. Ugh Then on Friday we go to our boat for our canal cruise. Been waiting weeks for this!!!