We had no idea what to expect here. I knew from joining a tour that we would see crater lakes and hot springs. What I didn't know was how beautiful and green this island is. We met at 8 am for our tour. There were 14 of us divided into 2 vans. We immediately headed out of town. The farms were all surrounded by volcanic rock walls, so they were all black. Many are totally covered by greenery. In another month that greenery will be hydrangeas in full bloom. There are hydrangea bushes everywhere. It must be beautiful. We headed up an old volcano to an overlook to see the crater lake. It was beautiful with thick green foliage all around it. On the way down we were to stop at a hot springs but it wasn't open yet so we continued on to a small town. This one is on the north coast, Ponta Delgada is on the south coast. The island is about 10 miles wide, 50 miles long. In the town we went to a liquor factory. They gave us samples of what they make which is everything from pineapple, blackberry and cherry liquor to milk and rice pudding liquor! Most of it was delicious. It was not great doing a tasting at 9:30 in the morning though. I just wanted to take a nap the rest of the day.
We went back to the hot springs. We had to walk about 10 minutes to reach them. There were beautiful ferns everywhere, very much like in New Zeland. They had pools set up at the springs. They had had a heavy rain the night before so the water was very muddy. Our guide told us the mud is good for your skin. I wouldn't have wanted to go in. There was also a beautiful waterfall there. After the hot springs we headed along the north coast to another lookout. They have many in the island as it is very mountainous. This time we could see the rocky coast as well as rolling hills with cows and horses. We were told it looks like Ireland. We have never been so could not verify that.
Further along the north coast was a tea plantation. We had a short tour of how they process the tea. It was interesting. We have been to many tea plantations but don't think we have gotten that much information before. We continued on to yet another lookout over the thermal area. There is a town actually built in the crater of a volcano. There was steam rising in many places that we could see from the top of the hill. We also passed by a beautiful golf course. It was very hilly. We went down into the town to a bakery behind someone's house. There they made a bread that was similar to an English muffin but sweeter. We sat and ate sandwiches. I also had passion fruit soda, it was very sweet but good. We then went to where the steam was coming out of the earth. It was very much like Yellowstone including the smell. They had a pipe with hot water coming out of it that women actually use for cooking. Just up the street were 2 more pipes with cold water, one was sparkling water. It was interesting to try natural sparkling water. It was full of minerals, so didn't taste very good, but it was bubbly.
We went to another crater lake that we had seen from the last outlook. One side of the lake had boiling water coming up, yet there were ducks swimming nearby. The heat must be concentrated in that one spot. Next to the lake is another thermal area where they cook food. There were dirt mounds which means there is a pot inside. It takes about 7 hours to make a vegetable and meat stew. A nearby restaurant specializes in that dish called cozido. Unfortunately we were unable to try some. There were many different water birds there as well as many cats.
We went to yet another lookout to see a volcanic cone off the shore that had collapsed creating a lagoon. There is nice snorkling and diving there and every year there is a cliff diving contest. It was really beautiful. There was a pretty chapel at that stop also, which had 101 stairs to reach it. Mel went up as did a few others in our group. I declined. From there we went to our last stop, an overlook into the highest priced neighborhood on the island. There were a few large homes, not mansions by any means. One had been a convent converted into a home. We took the freeway back to the city. The roads are very good here. I thought we would go directly back to the ship but our guide and driver drove us thru town and pointed out some spots of interest. That was really nice, now we know where to go tomorrow.
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