From
Faial, we sailed to São Miguel. This is the biggest of all 9 of the islands in the Azores and is in the Eastern Group.
We docked at Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel. The town looked much more developed than Horta.
I wanted to do as much as possible as it is our last day. With 6 others, we got a minivan for $25 each for a 3-4 hour tour to all the places I wanted to go. And we had a great day. And the tour actually lasted almost 6 hours!
From Ponta Delgada we drove west, past the airport and along attractive roads with a few azaleas in flower
The Azores are well known for their hydrangeas and
Faial island is known as the blue island, for when the hydrangeas are in full bloom. They form many of the hedges alongside the road and have to be cut back 2 or 3 times a year. During my visit in April, the leaves were only just appearing.
We went up to Sete Cidades volcano. The crater rim is 12 km in circumference and the bottom is filled with lakes. The crater walls are heavily vegetated. We were lucky as it wasn’t too cloudy, though it wasn't sunny either. Very impressive although sometimes the lakes appear more green and more blue.
There was a view to the sea on the other side. Hydrangeas in the foreground with Japanese cedars behind
There are large plantations of Japanese cedars on the Azores, imported for timber, but the tress have become invasive.
We then headed for the north coast, went past an aqueduct and then went across country on a farm road. It really looked like England, especially Yorkshire, with green grass, cows and stone walls. Very scenic. Descended slowly and went through a spread out village and to Capelas. This used to be a whale processing centre. Saw a rock arch in the sea. Great view of all the small volcanoes inland.
Through Rabo de Peixe, Fish Tail, and stopped at a beach by Tuka Tula bar on Santa Barbara beach. Volcanic rocks and surf. Not a beach for swimming.
Then headed inland and up past the hot springs at Caldeira Velha, past the geothermal centre and up to Lagoa do Fogo crater lake, Fire Lake. This is the 2nd highest mountain on the island. Lots of terns flying.
Next along the south coast, past Vila Franca do Campo, the first village to be settled and there was
no tax. On to Furnas Valley. This is a rich hydrological area with thermal springs and a huge botanical area. We drove down into the crater and alongside the Furnas lake, passing a group of pilgrims. Through Furnas town and the Terra Nostra Hotel and there is a casino. Hard to believe we were inside a crater.
The Furnas volcano is 805 m high. The base diameter is 14 km and the caldeira diameter 6.8 km. Caldeira is the crater or hollow. It is 604 m deep and 34,000 years old. It last erupted in 1630.
We stopped at Jardim Da Alameda, a garden with a stream flowing through and a fish tank with mostly English type fish. Also a small man-made waterfall, and a small pool fed by thermal hot water.
Next we stopped at the area with lots of steam caldeira. Several had boiling water and steam. The smell of sulphur wasn’t too bad. Interesting to see so many “geysers”.
We then tried the natural sparkling mineral water, it tasted like rusty water
After we tried various fruit liquors and I bought a bottle of tangerine liquor. It tasted better than the water!
From here we went up to the top of the hill, Pico do Ferro, to look down on the town, the lake, and the area where they cook food in the ground.
Then back almost to sea level on the north coast and stop at Cha Gorreana which is a tea plantation and museum where you can see how tea is made. There are 19th c. English machines. It smelt strongly of tea. The leaves are now picked by machines. Originally 2 Chinese were brought over to teach the locals about tea production, but they weren’t popular. Saw a machine cutting tea bags and ladies packing the bags into boxes.
From there we made our way back over the island to Ponta Delgada, on some new main roads. Back to the ship. The security at the cruise terminal was the tightest we had seen anywhere, and we had to go through a scanner as well as our bags. My new knee set off the scanner!
I loved the Azores. So clean, green, pretty, no rubbish and generally a very nice atmosphere.
Next day I saw some whales. This is the best photo I got. Apparently it is an orca.
