One week in São Miguel - Azores Part 1

Mallaury
20 sept. 2017
3 min de lecture

Some information about the Azores Archipelago :

- It's in the midst of the Atlantic, between Portugal and North America.

- It consists of 9 islands : São Miguel, Santa Maria, Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico, Faial, Corvo and Flores.

- All of the 9 are from volcanic origins.

- Azores is an autonomous region of Portugal.

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Saturday 16th of September, our plane lands in Ponta Delgada, the main town of São Miguel, it's around 1am in France-Germany, but its only 11pm in Azores. We pick up the car we've rented and here begins our Azorean Adventure.

Let me first introduce you our accommodation for the week, the amazing Casa da Adega., Ribeira Chã.

Praínha de Água d'Alto

We call this prainha (little beach in Portuguese) "our beach" for the simple fact that it's the nearest from us and so the one we chose to take our daily morning swim.

Vila Franca do Campo

Vila Franca do Campo is a really cute town also near us (Ribeira Chã) where you can enjoy your morning coffee in a quiosque among the (mostly) old Portuguese men; for us Vila Franca is the grocery shopping place with its big supermarket where to buy local cheese, wine and ... for sure... PASTEIS !

On the picture bellow you can see the Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo, a little island not that far from the coast which looks wonderful.

Pasteis & Bola de Berlim

We've missed a million of Portuguese things since we left our beloved Lisbon. Two of these are the pasteis and the famous bola de berlim. For our deepest joy and gourmandise we enjoy them again in São Miguel, as a breakfast.

Termas da Ferraria

Properly speaking, "Termas da Ferraria" is naming an artificial pool standing at the ocean where people pay 90€ per person per day to swim in its termal water. But at this place, further left along the dark rock cliff and the wild blue ocean is a natural pool you can access with ladders. Once in this pool you can (you should) hang on to one of the ropes in order to -stay alive - resist the strong waves rushing to the pool.

Caloura

If you read me, you may know that I'm not fond of seafood... [What am I doing in Azores ?]but I'm going to try to speak in the best way about Caloura Bar-Restaurant (the 2 pics above). Pretty famous, as we heard, this is a very-fresh-fish restaurant which has several advantages : you can choose your fish among the "fish of the day" seeing them from your own eyes before they end in your plate with the salad and the potatoes ; it's quite cheap AND you eat directly at the ocean in a cove.

Furnas

Lagoa das Furnas

In the East of São Miguel is Lagoa das Furnas, on of the three main lakes of the island. As it's located in a volcanic crater, you can gaze at some gas bubbles in the green water. The surroundings are impressively beautiful. The "must-see" isn't the lake in itself though, but the caldeiras on its bank.

Caldeiras das Furnas

As I said, all this happens in a volcanic crater, and one of the most amazing thing to see in São Miguel is for sure the fumaroles das Furnas, these gas going out of a very dry earth.

The smell there is really bad.

Bellow this round pile of earth is a deep hole (as you can see on the pics above) and inside it is food. Indeed, a restaurant is offering you to eat meals (vegetables, meat) which were cooked, for something like 6 hours, into these holes via water boiled by the volcanic gas. This very typical dish is called : cozido (nas Furnas).

Way to Furnas Village and Furnas Village

Terra Nostra Garden

The Terra Nostra Garden entrance is 8€ per person for the day. There, you can enjoy the peaceful experience of walking through the wonderful and exotic Azorean plant life, you'll particularly cross lot of different kinds of ferns and tree ferns.

Besides flowers and plants, the Garden holds a wide termal pool. The water is kinda muddy, really orange due to the iron component and very warm (cat pee).