The Azores, also known as the European Hawaii consists out of nine volcanic islands. This archipelago is part of Portugal, but located about 1500 kilometers from the Portuguese mainland in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. This time I just visited the biggest and most popular island: São Miguel. I flew to São Miguel from Lisbon and it took me around 2 hours.
Day 1, Sete Cidades and Ponta da Ferraria
Our journey starts at what for a lot of people the most beautiful part of São Miguel is, the Sete Cidades. We parked our car at a random parking spot next to the road and we didn’t follow a certain trail so I can’t give detailed information about the duration. Luckily, the viewpoint of the Sete Cidades is very popular and you can park your car pretty close. From the closest parking spot to the viewpoint it is a 30 minute walk so almost everyone can enjoy this beautiful spot. We walked for about 5 hours in total and during this hike there was so much more to see, so for the adventurous hikers I would recommend to start your hike from a bit more far. When we returned at our car we hopped in and went further discovering the western part of this island.
We drove around 20 minutes and reached a place called Ponta da Ferraria. This rocky landscape with a good view on the Atlantic ocean is not super special at first sight. You will see some people with towels and that is because of the piscina natural da Ponta Ferraria. You can jump in the Atlantic and enjoy the natural heated water while having an amazing view on the ocean.
In the evening we decided to explore what the unofficial capital of the island(s) had to bring. Ponta Delgada has around 70.000 inhabitants. Honestly, there is not so much to see. Here you have the possibility to book some trips like whale watching. Furthermore there are some nice restaurants but we didn’t stay to long and decided to go home and get some rest.
Day 2, Parque Terra Nostra and Pico da Vara
We rented an accommodation in Rabo de Peixe, a small town located in the center of the island. São Miguel isn’t a very big island, but picking a central located accommodation can save you some time. From here we decided to drive to the eastern part of the island on our second day.
From Rabo de Peixe it is about an hour drive to parque Terra Nostra. Here you won’t find untouched wilderness, but still I would recommend to give it a try. We spent about 3 hours in this park and we started with a nice walk through the flora that is collected and shown here. After enjoying all the different greens we decided to jump in the natural heated pool. The thermal spring supplying the pool at a temperature of 40 degrees. Not hot enough? The smaller jacuzzi next to the locker rooms is even hotter. Because the floor of the pool is made out of a certain type of mud, I would advice to bring an old swimsuit and towel. The water can leave some dirty spots. More information about the park can be found here: Terra Nostra Garden | Azores (parqueterranostra.com)
After relaxing it was time for some action and we started our second hike. Just as the first day we didn’t plan this one and just parked our car about 4 hours from the highest top of the island: Pico da Vara. If you like some adventure and don’t mind not knowing exactly where you have to go you can do what we did, but if you like some organization I would advice just to plan your hikes a bit. After a while we found the right path and the peak that we were looking for already was visible. At one point a man walked by and we asked how far it was to the top. At this point it already was 4 o’ clock and considering that we had to get back before sunset it was good to know if we were able to make it. The man told us it would take us about 1,5 hours to reach the top. After doing some math’s, the conclusion was that we wouldn’t make it in time. We already hiked for a while but the will to reach the top got us so far to run. In the end we reached the top in 40 minutes and it was totally worth it. From here we had an amazing 360 degree view of the island. Sad enough we hadn’t to much time to relax and decided to go back to the car. We were just in time and enjoyed a really good sunset. This day was quite exhausting so we grabbed some groceries, prepared dinner and went to bed.
Day 3, Caldeiras da Ribeira Grande- Salto do Cabrito
For our last day of this trip we stayed a bit more central of the island. Close to Rabo de Peixe there is a town called Ribeira Grande. Here you will find a nice hiking trail where you can enjoy a beautiful waterfall. This hike took us around 3 hours so that was perfectly fine to end our trip. During this hike it started to rain which is completely normal on Sao Miguel. The first two days we didn’t experience any rain so we were lucky. A good poncho is needed if you ever visit one of the islands of the Azores. I am not a big fan of rain, but the dense forest combined with the heavy rainfall created the feeling that we were walking in the rainforests of the Congo. It was really spectacular. For more information about this hiking trail: PR29SMI Salto do Cabrito - Maps and GPS Tracks - Hiking Routes in São Miguel - Trails in Azores (visitazores.com)
Completely drowned we headed to the beach of Ribeira Grande and enjoyed the wild waves from inside the car. In the evening we had dinner nearby and got back to get some rest. The next morning we had our flight at 5 in the morning so that was needed. This trip was an amazing experience and I am curious what the rest of the Azores has to bring.
Reactie plaatsen
Reacties