As previously mentioned, we were expecting a washout. So it came as a bit of a surprise when we woke up to sunshine beaming through the cracks in the window shade. The forecast was still predicting rain . . .at the exact moment we were outside looking at sun, so we deduced that the forecast might not be accurate. To be fair, it did look threatening in certain directions, but I opened the weather app we use as pilots and mapped out the satellite/radar of the cloud coverage and most of the island appeared clear.
Equipped with this knowledge, we decided that perhaps third time was a charm to try and see the caldera on the western side of the island. After 25 minutes of driving, we reached a much more crowded parking lot than we had found yesterday. We could also see bits of blue sky in between the cloud cover which was promising. After the ten minute hike from the car park, we finally reached the final path to the overlook.
There it was — the most photographed view in the Azores. We each snapped a couple photos, but there is only so much one can do with one view. We also weren’t keen on the fairly large tour groups descending on the small-ish viewing area, so we cleared out after just a couple minutes. While it may seem like we put in too much effort for this view, our Azores trip would have seemed incomplete without it. Now we can check that box.
We returned to the BnB, where we fixed a lunch of mac and cheese before heading back out on the road, this time toward the eastern side of the island. Our Renault Clio had been on autopilot and tried to go back west for a fourth time, but we wrestled it onto the coastal road off to the east. The scenery gradually shifted from an Irish or British imposter into something more like Hawai’i. Either way, both sides are very green and this island clearly gets a lot of rain.
We eventually reached the town of Furnas, known for its hot springs. Traveler top tip: there is a more obvious hot springs area that apparently entices tour groups, but you have to pay for entry. The actual town itself has free parking and free entry to its local sulphuric pools. As predicted, the town smelled a bit farty, but that doesn’t stop restaurants and chefs from using the thermal pits to cook food. They have some kind of special canisters that shield the food from the sulphur, but it all seems a bit gimmicky to me. I guess it is one way to avoid having to wait for a pot to boil.
It started raining while we were looking at the sulphuric pools, and people scattered rapidly. The rain ended just as quickly as it began, however, and it was the only time throughout the day that I actually put my hood over my head. From Furnas, we started working our way back toward Ponta Delgada.
The coastline offered some nice views and we watched the landscape shift back to Irish. We made a brief detour to Santa Barbara beach on the northern coast of the island. The surf was coming in quite strong. While the sun was out, it certainly wasn’t a beach day. A couple people were walking on the sand, but the wind alone would be enough to deter anyone from having as much as a picnic without wearing a thick fleece.
We drove through the town of Ponta Delgada for a bit, but it was very crowded with cars even though most shops and other establishments didn’t appear to be doing much business. We don’t know where everyone actually was other than the very large line for an ice cream stand. Maybe people live for a partially sunny day that reaches 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
We went back to the supermarket to pick up a few more items for dinner, filled up the tank with gas, and then had one of our earliest dinners yet. 7pm! Look out! It’s like we are old people cashing in on some early bird special. We had pasta with some local breads and cheese on the side.
Tomorrow we are scheduled to depart from Ponta Delgada at 11am on United Airlines of all things. This is a recently scheduled flight and is the only U.S. carrier to serve the Azores. Given the overall inefficiencies of everything involving rental cars since we began touring Portuguese islands, we are going to give ourselves some extra time. In order to fulfill the testing requirement to enter the U.S., there is a new option to pay just $20 and have someone watch you take a cheap rapid test over a video call. Within a span of about 15 minutes (the time for the test result to officially register), we both had our negative covid certificates sent to us in pdf format, all within the comfort of our BnB. That documentation has already been sent to United, so in theory things should go smooth tomorrow, but it seems I am always surprised on this trip.
passports & pepto bismol 