Sao Miguel

One of the most important works of European medieval cartography is the Catalan Atlas from 1375. It states an archipelago far out in the Atlantic, which apparently was known to sailors prior to the edition of any map of that region, but which wasn't officially discovered until the 20's or 30's of the 15th century. Back in that time, the discovery of some new spot basically meant to take possession of it, and regardless of who might have been the real discoverer, he planted a Portuguese flag on the different islands of said archipelago.

Lagoa do Congro

Nowadays, the islands I'm talking about are known as the Azores and there are nine of them. From the biggest to the smallest, their names are Sao Miguel, Pico, Terceira, Sao Jorge, Faial, Flores, Santa Maria, Graciosa and Corvo, and it's precisely Sao Miguel where Elisabet and me spent a week last month. Summer vacations we call it.

Hydrangea

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Sao Miguel is not the most Eastern of the Azorean islands, but even so, with a distance of 1370km, its Eastern edge is the closest Azorean point to continental Europe, to Lisbon to be more precise. And just to give you an idea, from the most Western point of that roughly 60km stretching island, it's about 3900km to Boston. As a matter of fact, there's quite a frequent aerial connection between Sao Miguel and Boston, too.

In order to get to Ponta Delgada, the capital of Sao Miguel, Elisabet and me first had to fly to Lisbon, where we switched plane.

Lisbon, Vasco da Gama Bridge

The first day, we didn't get to see much, since we arrived at Ponta Delgada in the late evening hours.

Nightfall at the habour of Ponta Delgada

The next day, we explored the city and surroundings. Our personal highlights were two botanical gardens, namely Jardim José do Canto and Santa Ana, one located right next to the other.

Botanical Garden

There, we had a first contact to the islands vegetation. Regardless of the fact that many of the plants in the gardens were imported from abroad,  we were much impressed by what we got to see.

Another Ficus

Jardim de José do Canto: an immense Ficus tree

Detail of a fly in a sunflower

Ponta Delgada: church in an arch

The evening hours, again, we spent in Ponta Delgada, as we did most nights.

For the rest of the days we hired a car and hence were able to freely move around on the whole island. We spent our time on a satifying mix of hikes onto, around and into (ancient) volcano craters, road trips, visits of more botanical gardens as well as hot springs, hot waterfalls and hot pools. Furthermore we had a look at mud geysers, enjoyed stunning views from numerous lookout points and tried to eat as much as possible of the excellent fish. My favourite one was Boca Negra, which, when served with a glass of wine from Pico island, is truly delicious.

Our third day on the island, we went for a visit to what's certainly one of the most famous attractions of Sao Miguel: Sete Cidade, a pintoresque village located in a volcanic crater. In order to get there, we parked the car at Lagoa do Canário. From there, a trail that follows most of the crater's rim leads to the village. Before reaching the crater, the path was really nice, but from there on the trail followed an ordinary earth road and the walk turned less interesting. The views, however, were unbeatable during the whole time, and the vegetation impressive.

Near Lagoa do Canário: uphill into the fog

One gets to see many cows

The village of Sete Cidades, located in a crater

In order not to retrace the whole crater rim, we decided to take another trail back to the car. Unfortunately, we didn't find it and so ended up walking on, or next to the road for some 13km. The typical case of a shortcut that results longer than the normal route. The view was nice - the proximity to the cars wasn't.

On the road

Company

A church's garden ... and vegetation

Next day, we went to Furnas. Our first stop was at Lagoa das Furnas where we encountered a big parking lot. Convinced that there must be anything interesting to see, we pulled over and started walking. After passing by an immense picnic area, we found a nice church with an even nicer garden adhered to it, but I think the reason for the vast parking area wasn't the church, but the picnic area itself. Picnic areas, by the way, are something very common on Sao Miguel for there's a rather curious habit, one might call it an obsession, for spending the weekends "picnicking" in the green, even if the green is located right next to a major country road.

Then, we headed on to the other side of Lagoa das Furnas, where there's a geologically active zone with geysers. Out of a number of holes, hot water and mud squirt into the air, and many columns of sulfurically smelling vapour form. I'd say that this very place was the spot where we met the most tourists. After the purchase of some fruit that we consumed picnic-style, we found a trail going up to Pico do Ferro and decided to do some hiking.

Apart from the enjoyable hike itself and the view from our little summit, it was the vegetation, again, what we liked most. The path led by an incredibly thick and green mix of cypresses, palm trees and ferns and I believe it would have been impossible to leave the trail to either of its sides.

Way up to Pico do Ferro

Strangely there were very few beasts in the forest. Even small animals like insects and spiders seemed to be rare. On one occasion I picked up a piece of dead wood, so putrified I could easily grind it with my hands. To my surpris, there weren't scarcely any inhabitants in it, nor were there any eggs. Only one small centipede was to be found. I'm sure, that a similar experiment carried out in any other place I know, would have led to the discovery of a whole collection of bugs.

Lagoa das Furnas as seen from Pico do Ferro

Back at the car, our next stop was at Terra Nostra Park, a 12ha measuring botanical garden in Furnas. After a several hours lasting stroll through it, we ended up in the hot water swimming pool, the entry ticket allows one to make use of (until 7 pm).

Awesome vegetation

Very nice place

Terra Nostra

Hot water swimming pool

There are several other places in the village of Furnas, where the volcanic activity is to be seen, but were I to choose my favourite "hot spot" there, it most certainly was the hot pool.

At a lookout point

During a trip to the North East of the island we got to see some very beautyful parts of the coast as well as lighthouses and nice villages. Over there, the island of Sao Miguel is even more mountaineous and also seems to be less exploited.

On our last day on the island, we went to another volcanic crater known asLagoa do Fogo. A trail led down to the lake it harbours, and then followed its shore to one side. After a while, we arrived at a nice beach, which in other meteorogical conditions doubtless would have been an inviting place to have a bath.

Trail down...

...Beach...

...and panoramic view inside Lagoa do Fogo

      

Close by, there's a place called Caldeira Velha, where a hot stream of water mixes with a "naturally cold" one and then forms a semi-hot waterfall. It's located in the middle of a very junglelike forest which adds quite a special flair to it. Very few people were around, and the whole situation was as if taken from a movie. Furthermore, the location features a hot pool for those thermophiles (like me).

Our last touristic visit was that of one of the island's three remaining tea plantations. We learned, that the locally produced Cha (as tea is called there) is being cultivated without the use of pesticides, fungicides or insecticides. Until now, no plagues that would affect the tea plants have arrived on the Azores.

Tea plantation

The day of our return to Barcelona, we once again had to change plane in Lisbon. The booked flight plan allowed us to leave the airport, have dinner in the city centre and even stroll around for a while, but as much as we would have liked our summer vacations to continue, we finally had to fly home.