Wonderful Azores, wonderful São Miguel!

I always wanted to go to the Azores and after talking a lot about it in our classes in university, didn’t matter whether in language, culture or history, I wanted it even more. Together with some friends, we decided to go there for a few days. It is only two and a half hours from Lisbon by plane and we got some cheap tickets. The good thing is, they also speak Portuguese there. Because of exams some of my friends cancelled and in the end, I went only with a young Spanish friend of mine. I always have the impression that the Erasmus here are so young, much younger than I was on my first Erasmus. This friend of mine is really nice, but a bit unexperienced and so I first had to explain him how to book his flight ticket online. We had booked four days for him and five for me as I didn’t have classes on Mondays and wanted to use the time. Next problem was the hand luggage. I told him several times the size that was allowed and that liquids are not allowed. Of course, he knew all that. At the airport, the big surprise: Shampoo is also a liquid! So, he had to leave it behind. I always have liquids in extra travelling size. Then, our flight already left. We flew from Lisbon over many clouds and couldn’t see a lot until we landed at 11:30am in Ponta Delgada, the capital of the island Sao Miguel. The Azores are actually nine different bigger islands with several smaller ones and belong to Portugal, that is also why they speak Portuguese.

At the airport, we were fetched by a shuttle service that brought us to out rental car: a Fiat Panda. I was the driver, what a surprise, as I was the only one with a drivers licence. We drove to out hostel, where the next problem awaited us: “Two times the same price”. I was a bit surprised, because I was staying longer and already thought that I had booked it wrong. But no, it had been my Spanish friend, who booked one night too much. He was lucky that they didn’t charge him. Our hostel was an old manor house with traditionally separated dormitories for boys and girls. Everything was clean and nicely furnished. Even the breakfast buffet was inclusive, which consisted of tea, coffee, cacao, water, juice, bread, cheese, ham, butter, jam and cereals. Just perfect.

Day 1

We started directly to discover the island. First station was the Lagoa do Congro. From the beginning, I didn’t think of the streets as reliable, very small and steep and the attraction normally are only reached over gravel roads with many wholes and no signs. Leaving a non-driver to navigate is also very adventurous. Directions are always told too late or I get told “that way”. What the hell is that way? I am busy looking onto the road to not crush into a truck or fall down a cliff, I really cannot watch, where you are showing. But, luckily, we always got to our destinations in one piece. It was a short hike to the lake, downhill through the woods and suddenly, we stood in front of a lake disappearing in the fog. It had been slightly raining the whole day. The lake was in the valley of the mountains and with the thick fog only to be seen from directly being at its shores. There are many strange trees and mushrooms on the way to be found. Everything is so green, a strong green and very different as to our green. It seems to have a slightly golden shimmer. I think, it is the grounds. The colours are a lot more intensive in general. It becomes even more noticeable with the sunshine. We continued our way on the winding roads to the tea plantations of Gorreana. There was a hiking trail over the plantation to have a better look at it. It seemed like a huge labyrinth of bux bushes. There should have been tea tastings, which would also have been very nice with this bad weather, but we didn’t find it. Meaning, it was not really cold, about 15 degrees or even more, but the fog and the humidity made it seem colder.

Next stop: Porto Formoso, a small and sweet village, but nothing special. We were also already too cold to go for a walk. We tried a lookout close by, but even on the road we couldn’t see more than 100 metres and so on the lookout, we also didn’t even see the ground of the cliffs. So, we just returned to our place. Also, about the road directions, I was a bit confused. Firstly, they have continuous lines everywhere, also on the turning ways, so I don’t know, where I am allowed to drive and where not. Then, they have white and yellow lines, and until now, I have no idea what they tell me. On top of that, the whole city seems to be consisting only of one way roads, which makes it impossible to orientate yourself or find the way. We started to search for a restaurant, very early for Portuguese understanding: at seven pm. Ok, the plan had been to have a look at the city, but it started raining cats and dogs and we only wanted to find shelter and get something warm to eat.

The restaurant that we chose, wasn’t even open yet, but they had pity with us and left us in. And in the end, it was a really good choice, because it was not expensive and very good. We trusted their suggestions and took the typical cheese fondue with bread for starters, very good, but sadly cold. For a main dish, we got two different kinds of bacalhau. One with salad and typically cooked, the other one with potatoes, olive oil and garlic. They were both absolutely fantastic. Probably the first time that I loved bacalhau. After the good dinner, we went home, already a bit drier and in a better mood. I went to take a shower for warming up. With the note of the other girl in the room that the water takes a long time to heat up, I waited and I expected a lot, but not the 10 minutes that it took. I was already freezing and wanted to give up until it got warm. At least it got warm and really warm! Sleeping was also a thing: a found a very slim cover on my bed. I thought I had to freeze to death. With the other girl, we found one more blanket for each bed and as it was only the two of us, we took two each. A lot better like that. But even then, I was freezing.

Day 2:

On Friday, we took the girl from my room with us and she was really nice. She was also Spanish, wanted to see the same places as we and we had enough space in the car. We communicated in a mix of English, Spanish and Portuguese. We had checked the weather and it should become really cold. So, let’s start the adventure! And it should become a real adventure. First stop was a lookout, from where we could overlook the green hills to the sea. It was foggy, but at least the fog was high enough that we could see something. And then it starts, every few metres, we saw something, where we wanted to stop to have a look as for example the beautiful aqueduct. Our destination was the Lagoa do Canário, which reminded us of the lake yesterday. We continued hiking to the famous lookout that you can see on all of the pictures about Azores. Normally, you can overlook the Sete Cidades, the city between the lakes – no idea why it is called seven cities, when it is seven lakes -, the Lagoa Azul and the Lagoa de Santiago. Normally. Not today. It was just too much fog and we could just guess, where to see what. We waited for a long time and were rewarded for that. We got a short impression of how it would be on nice days. Just amazing! From another lookout close by, it was already better and into the other direction of the sea and flatter land, the weather was a lot better, where rainbows were shining. In the valley of Sete Cidades it was foggy again, but we went for a short walk and then warmed us up with hot chocolate and used the opportunity to try some traditional sweets: queijadas da cidade (cake from the village with almonds) and queijadas de canela (with cinnamon). They were very sweet and very delicious.

Now comes our adventure, so the real adventure. We wanted to drive the circle road of the volcano, which was a gravel road. That itself is not a problem, but every curve let me get a bit more nervous. The poor Fiat Panda! The roads were not thought for that type of car, the puddles and wholes got bigger, the way narrower and steeper. We needed a lot of drive to get up some of the hills and I was really praying that no one would come from the other way. My co-drivers were always shouting “Oh, so beautiful”, but I only dared to look, when I found a place to stop the car. And it was truly beautiful, the weather had gotten better and we could enjoy the views. But, all that time, I was wondering, how we could finish this road, I couldn’t even turn, if necessary. And then, we reached the point, where I said, we can’t continue any more. I saw that the road to go down was already steep and the other one up, even steeper. The other two said, it would be ok and I trusted them. Long forgotten had I that none of them had I drivers licence, neither have they ever driven a car.

And my impression had been right. I couldn’t get up again, not forward, nor backwards. Luckily, we found an open gate to a field, where I turned and then with a lot of speed drove back up the road and let the other two walk. The car needed a lot of energy to get up and was roaring. I really had thought, we have to call someone to get us out there and I learnt to never ever trust anyone, if I have a bad impression. This has been an official secondary road! We took one of the real roads and we went down in the direction of the sea. On our way, we met a herd of cows, nothing scary. At least something that I know – you can read about that in my New Zealand blog – and therefore left me unimpressed. Now it was the others, who got afraid, I don’t know why. What did they expect? That the cows turn around and attack us? No worries, they are completely somewhere else with their thoughts and have other problems. I mean they not, they came on a big, fenced field, but I had seen others. At first, I had wondered, why they all are standing in line until I noticed that they are all separately tied to the ground!

Finally back on normal roads, we drove to Mosteiros, a small, colourful village with black volcanic sand. On our way to there, we got lost because of some one way streets that the navigation system didn’t know about and only found the city after asking the locals. There, we enjoyed the sunshine and had lunch. After the Spanish guy had been hit by white liquids of a bird, our mood -at least of us other two – had increased. The poor guy was so mad at the bird and tried to wash his jacket in the ocean. We still laughed the whole day, about how he screamed, panicked and ran to the sea. After lots of lookouts and rainbows, we came to our last station: the Thermal Springs of Ferraria. There should be a basin with hot water, because of the volcanic activity. It is best to go there at low tide, we were best informed. We had to go down a very steep and narrow road and then, found a artificial, fenced pool with brown water. Didn’t look so natural as we expected and had read! We were disappointed.

The other two already wanted to go back, but I told them that I didn’t drive down this road for nothing and that we were going for a little walk. And that was the best thing to do, because we actually discovered the real bay, which had been meant. There were ropes to hold onto and a man in the water told us to come in, it was well warm. At first, we didn’t believe him, at least he was sitting in the Atlantic Ocean! But some other guys joined us and we went into the water, which was indeed hot! It was a fantastic experience, but you really had to pay attention to the rocks as the waves were strongly crushing onto them. When it got wilder and also more crowded, we left and went back home, not without stopping once again on a lookout. There, we watched the sunset, which was truly amazing! The three of us went for a delicious but simple dinner in Ponta Delgada and went early to sleep. It had been a stressful day. Especially for my nerves. I know, I have to bring the car back in one piece.

Day 3

For this day, we hadn’t planned too much, but as Sunday should be bad again, we changed our plans. It was only me and my Spanish friend as the girl had left that day. We drove to the Lagoa do Fogo, which is the highest lake on the Azores, up in the mountains. There, you have an amazing view all over the island, you can almost see everything. The weather was good, the views therefore as well, but the wind was very strong. The lake developed in the crater of one of the volcanoes. Together with Sete Cidades, cleary one of my favourites on the island. Afterwards, we went to the Caldeira Velha. Calderia just means basin and there are some thermal activities, which make the rivers and waterfalls hot. They are caught in artificial, but beautiful basins. The entry is only two euros and the whole surroundings are very nice. It looks very tropic with all of the fern trees. There are two basins, one with 25 degrees and a waterfall – almost too cold for me – and the other one with 37 degrees. At least that’s what they said. It was very nice but didn’t feel as warm. The water is slightly yellow and might leave stains on you bathing suits, that’s why I packed an old bathing suit.

After relaxing for a while, we drove to the Lagoa das Furnas, where also volcanic activities heat up the ground. That is where they make the typical azorian cozida. It gets cooked for 12 hours in pots in the ground and can be tasted in most of the restaurants in the village of Furnas, where you also find a very special house. It is potatoes, something seemingly to be a potato but which wasn’t, carrots, savoy cabbage, cabbage, chicken, beef, blood sausage, another sausage and a kind of bread dumpling. It was very delicious, but sooo much….

On our way home, we saw a very beautiful and colourful sunset. Still full, from the cozida, we went sleeping without dinner. Or at least, after having organized our “small” problem. My Spanish friend, who should have his flight on the next day at 17:45, just noticed that he had booked the wrong one and was already leaving in the morning at 6 am. At first, I thought he was joking, he did that a lot, but no, he was deadly serious. He excused himself about 1000 times for the inconvenience of me driving him to the airport, but I was not even mad. The airport is not far and it was him, who would miss seeing many things, not me.

Day 4

I got up at five in the morning and drove my friend in my pyjama to the airport and then went to sleep again. I hoped for the rain to stop, which didn’t, so I went to the city of Ponta Delgada for some shopping and sightseeing. I walked along the pier and saw all the churches and old, typical black and white buildings.

Afterwards, I drove to Vila Franca do Campo to a small lookout, from where you could see a small island and the beautiful bay. In summer, a ferry connects the island to the bigger one and it is said to be wonderful there, especially for swimming. I wanted to go to see the Nossa Senhora da Pazchurch, which sits high above the city. After being completely lost with Google Maps, because it didn’t really work, I wanted to turn back and found it by chance. There is a story about the church, as always. A pastor apparently, found an image of the holy virgin Mary in a cave and brought it to a church nearby, but the next day, it appeared again in the cave. So, they started to build a church nearby, but overnight, the church was transferred to exactly the place, where the image had been found. That is, where the church is nowadays.

On my way home, I stopped at a plantation of pineapples. Apparently, they are grown only on greenhouses on the Azores and are accompanied through many stations, which are explained there. The smoking, which had been discovered by chance, makes the pineapples so special and sweet. In the evening, I got to know a Portuguese girl, who was on her way to Boston, and we went together on a drink.

Day 5

On my last day, I had booked a three hours riding tour at the Quinta da Terca. When I arrived there, I was presented to my guide Rodrigo and my horse Imperador (conqueror). We started directly and rode a bit through the village, then over fields and went into the “jungle”. I was always trying to avoid hitting something or crashing into something with my head. The forest was a sea of red, yellow and pink flowers, truly beautiful (I didn’t take pictures because of the rain). We even saw banana trees and pineapples growing on the ground. My guide, who had started to speak Portuguese with me and taught me the horse vocabulary, asked me, if we should try a little trot and later a little canter. He started slow and was always watching me, of course, as he didn’t know me before and everyone can tell a lot- already noticed that many times myself. After some time, he apparently noticed that I really knew how to ride and we went faster. He showed me a mountain and told me we would go there. I was sure of having understood him wrong, because that was so far away to get there and back in three hours.

The steepness of our ways increased, out cantering got longer and faster. I ducked over my horse and tried not to get all of the dirt and water into my face, sometimes I even rode with closed eyes. The rest of my clothes were already completely wet and dirty. On top of the mountain – yes, it had truly been the one that he had showed me – I could overlook the island in both directions and also see the ocean. It was amazing. The weather had changed from rain to short sunshine and we even took some pictures. On our way down, it stared to rain again, which was sometimes alternated by warm sunshine. The sunshine made the whole ride better as I was already completely wet and freezing. Our way back was another one than the one that we came from and I completely lost my orientation as we were most of the time in the forest. Sometimes, my guide asked me which way to go and if I could find back without him. I told him that I trust my horse, they always find back home. When I tried to guess, I was normally wrong. It was just at almost the end that I found my sense of orientation. After three hours of riding, I got off my horse, completely stiff and sore. I hadn’t rode for a long time and especially not with wet, old jeans, but this ride and the views and the nice talks with my amazing guide, who also gave me any travelling tips, made up for all the pain and coldness. I could really wring the water from my clothes and my face looked like I had been taking part in a mud fight. I truly unforgettable experience! I said goodbye to my horse and the guide, whom I can just recommend!

Afterwards, I went to change to dry and clean clothes, at least I could not get on the plane like that. Then, I was already on my way back to Lisbon. It had been a short, but intense stay on the Azores. I am sure to come back, the next time with more time, to not only see the important things, but also really enjoy the landscape and everything there, without rushing from one site to another. And there are still so many more places to discover!

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