Day 15: From Furnas to Praia do Fogo

July 19, 2020

The weather is beautiful today. Although there are still some clouds in the mountains, we decide to take a trip to Furnas and the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, the thermal baths in Terra Nostra Park will remain closed, but when it's warm and sunny, I'd rather be by the sea than in hot thermal water.

On the way, we pass a farmer who is riding his horse on the road in a side saddle, which is common here.

First, we drive to the viewpoint Miradouro do Pico de Ferro.

From up here, you have a great view of Furnas Lake and the Caldeiras and Fumaroles, where preparations for lunch with 'Cozido', the traditional Azorean dish cooked in a pot in the ground using volcanic steam, are already underway.

Next, we go to Terra Nostra Park.

The park is eerily empty. At first, we think it is closed since there is really no one around the park at 10 am (it opens at 10 am).

However, it is a pleasant realization that we have the Terra Nostra Park 'all to ourselves'.

The abandoned thermal pool in the park doesn't look inviting. Above the warm water, streaks of ochre flow by, and the kids let us know that they would never set foot in the yellowish broth.

Well, it's not tragic that it's currently not possible.

At least it looks interesting.

Behind the thermal pool, there are many fern trees.

In the pond with the many water lilies, there are many koi fish, which immediately swim curiously to the children when they sit next to the stairs to watch the fish.

The koi fish are so curious that they let themselves be 'stroked' when the kids put their fingers in the water.

A little further, we go to the 'grotto' with a view of the koi pond.

We walk through the beautifully designed flower and plant gardens. Here, there is a garden for every taste: flowers, palm trees, cacti, or the 'rainforest' garden with many trees and mosses - Terra Nostra Park has a lot to offer.

After the 'flowery' gardens, we continue into the park, where the gardens are more reminiscent of a jungle.

A particularly funny moment is provided by a long-haired man in a white robe who drives past us in a golf buggy and invites us to his 'singing bowl session' in the afternoon. He speaks so slowly that we almost fall into a trance while he invites us...

But that's not really our thing. We politely thank him, and the long-haired singing bowl man continues on his way.

A somewhat strange phenomenon *smirk*.

A little further, we reach the ponds with the many colorful water lilies that have particularly caught our attention.

At the entrance/exit of the park stands this huge tree.

We leave the park around 12:30 and drive through the one-way street maze of Furnas to the Caldeiras, the hot springs and fumaroles that are steaming, bubbling, and simmering in the middle of town.

Here, too, we pass huge bus parking lots where the local children are using them for skateboarding today.

I wonder what it's like here in the high season...!?

Anyway, we are - once again - completely alone at the stinky Caldeiras.

Fortunately, there are no 'smell photos', the 'rotten egg smell' was sometimes really hard to bear.

We walk around the Caldeiras on the small circular path. It really stinks.

From a wall, we see 2 men throwing lots of white sacks into a steaming and boiling Caldeira water hole. The whole scene reminds us of 'garbage disposal'!? What are they doing?

No, they are not disposing of garbage here, but cooking corn! You can buy the boiled corn a little further at the stalls.

We take 2 cobs of corn with us for later and are curious how they will taste.

With the corn in hand, we continue to Furnas Lake.

So far, we have been able to park for free at every viewpoint and attraction, and honestly, we have been wondering why the Azoreans are missing out on this income. We have no problem with being able to park everywhere for free, but compared to other countries, it is quite unusual.

However, this changes at the entrance to Furnas Lake. We are stopped by a woman with a collection bag. The entrance to the parking lot is subject to a fee (I can't remember how much we paid - I think it was 5 € or 8 €), and unlike Terra Nostra Park and Furnas Downtown, it is 'packed' here.

We find one of the last free parking spaces in the parking lot. I have no idea where the other cars behind us are going to park!?

There are numerous picnic areas in the forest by the lake, which are completely overcrowded at lunchtime.

Since the sun is exceptionally cloudless today, it is pretty hot. The small forest area is covered with picnic blankets where local extended families enjoy their lunches from the picnic baskets.

Here, we also see that 'distance' is not taken so seriously. The forest area is practically one continuous picnic event.

We make our way through the crowds to the lake, where it is much quieter and less crowded (sun!).

You can rent pedal boats at the lake, and there is a small snack bar where you can get snacks and ice cream.

First, we walk further to the Caldeiras, where the pots with 'Cuzido das Furnas' (stew cooked in the sulfur springs) are being taken out of the steaming ground at lunchtime.

In the beautiful sunshine, we treat ourselves to an ice cream at Furnas Lake and watch the ducks swimming in the lake.

We leave Furnas Lake around 2:30 pm and head towards the ocean. We are getting sweaty, and we would really love to jump into the cool seawater.

On the way to Ribeira Quente, we catch a glimpse of the Ribeira Quente Waterfall in the tunnel (thanks to Marion for the tip!). It is advisable to make sure that you don't have anyone behind you before the tunnel so that you can stop briefly and admire the waterfall.

As we pass the town of Ribeira Quente and continue to Praia do Fogo Beach, we can already see the completely overcrowded parking lot in the distance.

It's crazy here!!!

At first, when I see the crowds on the beach, I lose my desire to go swimming there right away. But now we are here, and we won't come back here anymore on this vacation, it's a perfect 10 out of 10 sunny day, and we want to swim!

With a lot of luck, we find another parking space and walk to the beach.

We walk to the end of the concrete path that leads along the beach. It's not as crowded here. Perfect!

Since it's high tide, we can't really see where the supposed hot underground springs release their hot water into the sea, but we actually have the impression that the water here on the south coast is significantly warmer than on the north coast.

And the good thing: there are no jellyfish here!

We splash and swim to our heart's content and enjoy the sunny afternoon.

When hunger strikes (we haven't had lunch yet), we head back to the parking lot around 5:30 pm. While the kids prefer pretzel sticks and cookies, the husband and I sit on the stone wall by the sea and eat the still warm Furnas corn. Delicious!

After dinner at our Retreat Villa at the Santa Barbara Eco Beach Resort, the kids want to chill while the parents go back to the Tula Tuka Bar to enjoy a sundowner.

At the reception, we see a golf buggy in a 'raincoat' - did it rain here today!?

The secluded Santa Barbara Beach welcomes us with a cloudy sunset.

Since it is low tide, it is much easier for us to walk through the sand today.

In the Tuka Tula Bar, we treat ourselves to a Caipirinha. Having cocktails here is really fun! 5 € per cocktail is something! However, after a total of 2 cocktails today, I have to pass - otherwise, I'll sway back to the villa :-)

As we start our way back to the resort along the beach today, it is dark. In the moonlight, however, we can see - thanks to the low tide - where the waves break and the water flows, so we manage to return to the resort with dry feet, where I take a few pictures in 'night vision mode'.

Works perfectly.

Tomorrow is our last day on Sao Miguel - we are already a little nostalgic. It's really beautiful here...