To where the rocks cry

Lovingly, a separator wakes us at 8:45 - okay, that's not entirely accurate - Schahaatz has been awake for 5 minutes before the nasty noise.

The night went like this - I've had better ones on this vacation.

Finally, it stopped raining and the sun is coming out. We're taking it easy today. And even though there's no rain forecasted for today - it rains from time to time. Apparently, nothing works here without a rain jacket. But it wouldn't have stayed dry for long with the rain yesterday either. When we rode down the mountain for lunch, a group of hikers was walking down the street, water was running in and out of them; I really felt sorry for them.

Around noon, the clouds break and we set off. Inland, there are some crater lakes to see. The way there is adventurous. A 10% incline pushes our Opel Corsa to its limits. In first gear, at 4000 RPM, we climb the hill at 15 km/h. I was worried we might tip over backward, so I leaned forward just in case. Schahaatz had tried to drive in second gear, but he couldn't even pull a dead fish from the plate - so we went back to first.

From the Miradouro da Caldeira Negra e da Caldeira Comprida, you can look into both crater lakes. The clouds have cleared.

then we go to the westernmost point of Europe in Fajã Grande. Those narrow streets make the drive there not easy.

Today, the Atlantic is anything but calm.

From the parking lot, there’s a path paved with stones leading uphill. Since it poured yesterday like crazy, the path is quite slippery in places. Going up is not that bad, but I'm dreading the return trip. But for now, let's focus on going up.

The exhausting effort is rewarded with a fantastic spot.

I could sit here for hours watching the waterfalls - it's so meditative.

Today we are smart; we plan to stop at a restaurant on the way back to the apartment because we don't want a repeat of yesterday's drama. And if you're already out and about, it just makes sense.

We choose a pizzeria, Cana Roca.

We actually wanted to go there yesterday, but after not finding an open (4 total) and available (0 without reservation) restaurant in the island's capital, the rain forced us to turn back.

At 6:00 PM today, we are the only guests here. The pizza is super delicious.