Portugal Vacation - Ponta Delgada and the Azores

7/4/17

After a solid 18 hours of travel, we landed in Ponta Delgada around 6:00 AM and were picked up by our guide, Jose, from Amazing Tours (very apt name) for our hotel transfer. After dropping off our bags at the Azor Hotel, we checked out the city gates and Igreja de Sao Sebastio in the city center before grabbing a quick breakfast and beginning our first tour.

Igreja Matriz de Sao Sebastiao.

Portas da Cidade.

The island of Sao Miguel is a beautiful place and very undeveloped.  They recently completed a large highway project six years ago, which aided our travel immensely, but we still got a HEAVY dose of dirt trails and extremely windy mountain roads.  One of our first stops was the Boca do Inferno, which many consider the best viewpoint on the island.  We began our hike up to the top and ... fog.  We were able to wait it out and grab a picture as the fog subsided, but we only had a few minutes until visibility dropped again.

Walking down the murder path.  Did we survive?
Find out next episode.

Boca do Inferno.

On our way to the viewpoint.

Next, we saw Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde outside of Sete Cidades.  You can also see the Atlantic Ocean in the background behind the mountains.  Allison was also obsessed with the hydrangeas that line all the roads on the island, so we stopped and got quite a few pictures with them in the background.

Allison is obsessed with the hydrangeas. 

Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde.

We grabbed a quick lunch in Sete Cidades and snagged a pic in front of the local church with massive trees lining the walkway towards the entrance.

Just the village church in Sete Cidades.

From there, we continued on to Lagoa do Fogo, a crater lake nearer to the center of the island.

This was a lot higher up than it looked.

That's the ocean in the way way back. 

We concluded our tour at the Escalvado viewpoint and got some awesome pictures of the scenery.

Cool picture of an old mill.

Just cliffs and stuff.

7/5/17

We began our day by travelling to the Santa Iria viewpoint, which had beautiful landscape views and was the site of a civil war dispute, before stopping to see a tea plantation.

Santa Iria.

This is where tea is made.  You see, when a mommy tea and a daddy
tea love each other very much...

Next, we traveled to the Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeiroes, which was the site of some cool waterfalls and a working bread mill.

Don't go chasin' waterfalls.

Another waterfall, plus a grain mill to our left.

We continued on to Furnas to see the hot springs and the Lagoa das Furnas.  The locals actually bury food and use the geothermal heat to slow cook a dish called Cozido.  We watched our restaurant, O Miroma, dig their pot of food up from the springs and followed them into town to eat lunch.

After lunch, we went to Poca da Dona Beiga, a hot spring bath that was really cool, but stained my swimsuit.

Lagoa das Furnas.

Really cool hot springs.  Portugal has a lot of fatties, so I felt pretty.

On our way back from lunch, we stopped at Castelo Branco, a tiny, abandoned castle at the top of a mountain.

Castle siege: completed.

To finish the day, we stopped at Our Lady of Peace Chapel, which looks a lot like the place we were going to visit in Braga later in the trip.

I need me some Jesus.

Very similar to the church we were planning to see
in Braga.

Cool view.

Sao Miguel is just one of nine islands in the Azores chain and we would definitely like to come back to explore Pico, and island that produces wine, and Terceira, the location of the Azores' oldest city (UNESCO World Heritage site).

More cliffs.

Restaurants

Boca de Cena

Boca de Cena is a bit of a one man show, with the owner operating as cook, waiter, and busboy of the small establishment.  This was a great dinner spot and gave us our first glimpse into how affordable food and drink are in Portugal.

O Miroma

Great spot to eat while in Furnas.  You can watch them dig up the Cozido in person before following them into town to their restaurant.

Mariserra

It was fine.  Not really that memorable.