DAY 1 – Ponta Delgada, Ribeira Grande, Praia dos Moinhos
We have arrived on this incredible island right in the middle of Atlantic Ocean. We flew from LAX to Newark for 5 hours, then another 5 hrs to Ponta Delgada, the main city on the Sao Miguel Island. No lost luggage, no lines at the airports, no COVID tests, no masks worn on the planes, even by the crew…
Picked up our rental car (a small, but very spirited Renault) and drove to the city center, 15 minutes away. Our rental house was being cleaned until 4:00 PM, and it was still 9:00 AM! We were a bit miserable, but managed to walk around the town, had a breakfast and went to the local central market! The market is being renovated and there were few vendors, but we managed to buy some of the most delicious fruits and veggies, including the locally grown pineapples and bananas.
The house is located about 30 km from the capital and driving across the island gave us an idea what to expect. Lush, green, flowers everywhere, hydrangeas growing like weed, the flowers are humongous – I have never seen anything like this. It feels like we are in the Jurassic Park and dinosaurs will come out at any second. Then we stopped in a picturesque town called Ribeira Grande, had great local beer and (drumroll) found a large supermarket… And I woke up, LOL!
Our house sits on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Flowers are everywhere and the sound of waves – oh well, I am not good with words and can’t describe my feelings properly. At the bottom of our hill is a black lava sand beach and a bar that has a live band playing the good old rock-and-roll. In the cool evenings we sit outside with this gorgeous view and listen to Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, etc., enjoying a bottle of the Azores white wine, of course.
Well, just a little description of where we are at the moment. Don’t want to bore you and will let the photos do the job. Since we are not posting to any social media sites, we decided to send you our daily updates and photos.
Click HERE to see the DAY 1 photos.
DAY 2 – N.W. + N.
The North West corner of the island is the main attraction here: whitewashed villages, dormant volcanos, green and blue crater lakes, pine forests, flowers, and so on. Getting there was half the fun – it is like driving through a botanical garden!
We spent the day hiking many trails around Boca de Inferno, Vista do Reis, and the Lakes (Santiago, Azul, Verde, Canario) and explored the Sete Cidades area. Pretty intense but we were not even that tired. The ATLETAS, we are🤣.
We took a very long way home, via a narrow road skirting the coastline from the west side of the island to the middle North point where our house is.
Too tired to go out, so we fried some potatoes and sausages, made a salad from the just picked veggies from the garden behind the house (I’m in heaven). Music, a bottle of wine, ocean, love, what else does one need?
Click HERE to see the DAY 2 photos.
DAY 3 – The Center
Ok, ok. You asked for it, so I keep on writing and sharing more photos…
Lagoa do Fogo (Lake of Fire for the English speakers). Only a 4 mile hike (out / back), but it was really tough. I think that we climbed 500 rickety wooden planks down the side of a crater to the lake shore. Then walked around the lake following a loud group of Italians, who never stopped talking. We were hoping they would stop for lunch and make pasta, or pull out prosciutto / salumi and make coffee, but no, they kept on walking and, surprisingly, did not want to befriend us, although we had tried. Oh, well.
On the way back we had to hike the same 500 steps up the mountain. We were tired and I was thinking of our plan to walk the El Camino trail, about 100 km, but now I have some reservations, having hiked for 2 days in the row in a pretty difficult terrain. We’ll need lots of training!
We had a wonderful dinner at a tiny restaurant about 1.5 km from our house – we walked, again. They specialize in fresh fish and it was amazing. Although, a group of women came to the restaurant – a bride tribe as it said on the bright ribbons wrapped around their bodies. They carried a huge pink inflatable penis, singing songs, screaming, squealing and being extremely annoying. Whatever marriage they think they enter is not going to be all that pink-penisey. They’ll learn!!!!
Oh, forgot to mention that we don’t sleep well here – there is a music festival around the corner from us – “Summer Burning” – kind of the “Burning Man”, but much smaller. It is so loud, we have to sleep with ear plugs….. well, as I say: “Every trip is an adventure! Expect everything and take it in stride”.
Click HERE to see the DAY 3 photos.
DAY 4 – N.E. + S.E.
We decided to organize our exploration of Sao Miguel by quadrants. Having already visited two corners of the island, we dedicated the Day Four to the North East and South East regions. Despite a persistent misty rain interrupted by beaming sunshine, we drove our Renault along a stunning highway raised high above the Atlantic coast.
Every few kilometers we had to stop at a Miradouro, a viewing area, which looked like a tiny botanical garden overlooking the most impossible blue infinity of the Atlantic Ocean.
Once we ventured on an almost vertical 500 meter descent to see a 150 year old lighthouse. Yes it was very beautiful and impressive, but not as imposing as our feeble attempt to get back to the car, which was parked at the top of the hill.
We drove through sleepy towns along the coast and their white churches filled with parishioners attending their Sunday services.
Finally, we had reached our destination – a fishing village called Povoacao, located on the SE coast. This was the first place where Portuguese colonists landed in the Azores in 1432. It is fun to imagine what these pioneers had encountered on this impossibly lush island, completely void of any human and animal life!
It was still raining and time for a late lunch. We walked into a local restaurant and sat down on a covered patio next to a group of 10 people. Almost immediately we had heard the Russian language being spoken by the group with a characteristic Moscow accent.
Needless to say, we didn’t know anything about these people. However, our imagination was working overtime and we were listening very intently, ready to jump in at any time to let them know our many anti-Russian / pro-Ukrainian points of view.
Luckily for everyone involved, the Russian conversation around the table was limited to a typical touristy chit-chat and everyone was able to enjoy their seafood lunch. A major international conflict was avoided on this Sunday afternoon!
Click HERE to see the DAY 4 photos.
DAY 5 – Lagoa das Furnos, Vila Franca do Campo
All good things must end, unfortunately, and our adventure in Sao Miguel is not an exception to this rule. All we have to do is to return our lovely tiny Renault, fly to Madrid, and drive to Salamanca on Tuesday. At this time, however, we should summarize the events of the past 5 days.
On Day 5 we drove right down the middle of the island to Lagoa das Furnas, a volcanic lake located in the most seismically active part of the land. The ground is “smoking” here, just as it does in our own Yellowstone National Park, but in a very small way. People pay money to soak in the warm mineral water pools and stroll underneath warm waterfalls.
If you know us at all, you’d correctly guess that we did not partake in these luxurious activities. Instead, we hiked a mile directly up a caldera side, with 850 feet of vertical gain. The tough short hike was made even harder by yesterday’s rain and the ground was extremely muddy and slippery. However, all’s well that ends well.
As a reward for all this hard work, we drove 20 minutes due south to a little old port town called Vila Franca do Campo. Back in the 15th century the settlement was given the title of a town, aka “Vila”, and designated as the administrative center of the island. No one paid any attention to the seismic activity in the area and the new capital was almost completely destroyed by a powerful earthquake of 1522. The town was rebuilt over the years and there are still many impressive churches around. However, we were primarily interested in cold beer accompanying a nice seafood lunch and were not disappointed!
Click HERE to see the DAY 5 photos.
SUMMARY
Yes, we are willing to admit that we were pleasantly surprised by Sao Miguel. What a beautiful “previously unknown” part of Europe for us, just a short 5 hour flight from NYC.
It is a comfortable, safe, relatively inexpensive island with good roads, many beaches, warm Gulf Stream waters, many beautiful lakes, extinct volcanoes, very diverse flora, great hikes, 600 year history, and so on and so forth. Most locals speak good English, the internet and mobile service are fast and are always available, the food is wonderful, and the beer is cold and tasty. The climate seems to be more or less the same all year around, although these things change all the time.
On the negative side… well… we just could not think of anything.
Keep on traveling, my friends! It is still worth it…
LenkaTraveler