“I must have flowers, always, and always.”  ~ Claude Monet

Of everywhere we planned to visit on this journey, this was the place I’d been waiting for… a dream come true. One of those places I’d seen pictures of in social media but thought I’d never see in real life. An exotic place… no one I know has been here… and I love the road a little less travelled. The Azores… a perfect way to end this wonderful adventure. 

The Azores is a stunning off-the-beaten-path destination- sometimes dubbed “Iceland without the ice”. Now I haven’t actually been to Iceland (it is on the list though) so I can’t really comment, but I think maybe it is unlike anywhere else in the world. A collection of nine islands in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean, and we are staying on the largest island Sao Miguel. Its not a typical sun-and-sand vacation island like the Maldives… due to the climate (unlike Portugal proper that has around 300 sunny days a year, the Azores has more like 300 rainy days a year) and there are relatively few beaches anyway. But this insanely green island’s allure lies in its volcanic geography, with epic viewpoints, volcanic craters, lakes, natural thermal pools, meandering coastal roads, traditional fishing towns, whale watching, fresh seafood… and its lack of mass tourism. Sounds like paradise. And of course, there are hiking trails. Haven’t I done enough hiking, you ask? Never enough! And I’m definitely drawn to the wild spaces… so I think there will be hiking.

This unspoiled island is also filled with an extraordinary show of wild hydrangea blooms, adding to its already picturesque natural landscapes. And anyone who knows me knows that I am an Anthophile… a person who deeply loves flowers. Especially if there’s masses of them… and we were, in theory here for the peak season. These flowers are a very big part of my reason for choosing this place.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I asked the tour guide about the hydrangeas as we began our day, and she said they weren’t really blooming because there had been no summer yet. As we had found throughout this trip, besides a few really hot days, the weather has been very cool (yep- that means we’ve had all the wrong clothes 🤷🏼‍♀️). 

We hit the road towards the eastern half of the island and stopped at a beautiful organic tea plantation.

The Azores have the only tea plantations in Europe and I took a leisurely stroll through their fields and enjoyed their panoramic views and we had a cup of one of their teas. I also discovered that when our tour guide had said that the hydrangeas were not blooming… that was a very relative statement.

On my reckoning, they were everywhere… lining the roads and even used as hedging between properties and paddocks… just not in full bloom… and I was still pretty much in seventh heaven for much of the day. 

We headed to Ribeira dos Caldeirões Natural Park… renowned for its gorgeous waterfall… and yes… it was surrounded by hydrangeas.

There was a model or influencer draped all over the rocks for a while and I am thankful for the new ‘clean-up’ function on my iPhone that can remove annoying people from my pictures. Technology is amazing!

I went for a quick wander among the stunningly beautiful lush vegetation in all shades of green… huge trees… all kinds of ferns including large tree ferns, and big bushes of hydrangeas… and endangered birds. It felt like a rainforest and I would have loved more time to wander more but there was so much to be packed into today that we had to move on. 

There was also a beautiful garden with five 16th-century watermills and more waterfalls. 

We headed towards the Furnas valley to experience its dramatic volcanic landscape and stopped at the stunning Miradouro Pico do Ferro for a panoramic view of the valley. The Furnas volcano is an active but dormant stratovolcano and encompasses a volcanic lake, Lagos das Furnas, surrounded by the steep peaks of the ancient mountains and its lush green rim. In fact the whole town is inside the volcano. Our guide was not sure if we would be able to see anything due to the iffy weather and while it certainly was not completely clear,  we did have incredible views of the crater lake.

And then it was lunchtime and we enjoyed Furnas stew or Cozido, which is a traditional Azorean stew that has been cooked on the island for hundreds of years, in the volcanic soil of Furnas. The ingredients are placed in a pot and cooked underground using geothermal heat. The stew included all different meats and vegetables and was very tender and quite delicious.

As already mentioned, the village of Furnas is located within the caldera… and although the Furnas volcano last erupted in 1630, you can feel, see, and smell the geothermal activity all around you in the form of steaming fumaroles, thermal pools, and natural mineral springs around every corner.

And our next stop was to one of its thermal springs for which the town is well known. People come for thermal baths and to drink the many different kinds of mineral waters, each with different chemical compositions and tastes and a warm, iron rich stream runs through the town. Volcanic mud is also used for relaxing therapies but we had only time for a relaxing soak in the warm but kind of yucky-brown water of the gorgeous Terra Nostra Park. 

As the center of São Miguel’s unique geothermal activity, we visited two active volcanic sites to see the fumarole fields, thermal and mineral waters, and boiling caldeiras in action.

It’s really kind of strange to see the water coming directly from the ground boiling so vigorously and apparently there have even been deaths from people falling into the water.

Our last stop was to vila Franca do Campo to see the little island paradise off its coast that it is well known for. You used to be able to go to the island, climb its hills and swim in its perfectly round shaped natural pool, but it is now a protected area due to its high levels of biodiversity. They still do little boat tours out there but you can’t get off the boat so I didn’t think that would really be worthwhile. 

Big but fantastic day with so many stops and oh, so much beauty… we came home and didn’t even venture out again for dinner.