And I think to myself what a wonderful world

Tag: #azores

Lakes of Fire

July 13th, 2025

I have to admit that I don’t really love the town we are staying in- but I guess it was never about the town… it’s just a base. And there is beauty everywhere and I do really love the unique patterns mosaiced into the narrow streets’ cobbled pavements and city squares here in Ponta Delgada (CalçadaPortuguesa)… with every street a different pattern. So cool.

And even though there are some colourful houses,

… it does feel like a very black and white town, albeit with a lot of lovely bright flowers decorating the gardens and balcony’s.

A lot of the churches and buildings are traditional white with black volcanic basalt rock accents on the edges, which is very characteristic for Portugal… and certainly for the Azores… all very black and white.

We had a couple of rest days and found there was very little to do once we had walked around the town… and the weather wasn’t great. Wandered the botanical gardens which was lovely for me, including a couple of amazing Australian Moreton Bay Figs.

Climbed the town hall tower for a view over the town…

… checked out a few local churches…

… but there really wasn’t a lot to occupy our time. I booked a hiking tour which was disappointingly cancelled… and I think we could have cut this visit short.. or maybe visited another island in the group… but that’s all very well in hindsight.

We did have an amazing second day of touring around the island- this time the Wild West side. We stopped at an organic pineapple farm grown in greenhouses (not particularly interesting)… and drove through endless kilometres of huge hydrangea bushes lining the roads and hillsides, at times well above the height of the car… sometimes combined with lilies, agapanthus and azaleas. These stunning flowers flow like poetry between cliffs and clouds… painting the island in shades of blue, lilac, white and purple, creating magical scenery at every turn. A paradise in bloom. Simply mind bogglingly spectacular even if they arent in full bloom! I tried to video but we were driving too fast and it’s just a blur.

And then we arrive at the view that I had been wanting to see since I first saw pictures in social media years ago… the Vista do Rei viewpoint over Sete Cidades… probably the most photographed of the whole island group.

It looks like there are two lakes… one green and the other blue. But the lake is actually shaped like an eight and so it only seems like there is two lakes. The clearly visible difference in colour is caused by the strong growth of algae on one part of the lake which makes it look green. And then the masses of hydrangeas framing the view are just extraordinary. Have you ever seen a more spectacular view?

We were so blessed to have a beautiful day as the colour difference is apparently only obvious in the sunlight. We were booked for this tour a couple of days ago and postponed due to rain when it was likely there would have been no view at all.

This is also the start of the hike I had booked that goes along the crater rim, then down the slopes into the crater of the dormant volcano, ending in the town of Sete Cidades. This hike apparently gives great views of the interior of the crater, letting you experience the Sete Cidades in a deeper way than driving to the viewpoints… very disappointing but alas, it was not to be.

Not far away, we visited another stunning lake- the secluded and seemingly inaccessible Lagoa de Santiago, nestled inside its own volcanic crater… with its high banks, lush vegetation, and uniquely green waters, offering a grandeur like no other.

We passed some beautiful coastal vistas…

… and stopped at a popular volcanic beach…

… before heading to Caldeira do Velha- a natural paradise with thermal pools of differing temperatures (between 25-38°)… far more appealing than the Terra Nostra Park we visited a couple of days ago. On the slope of Volcano Água de Pau, which has been inactive since the 16th century, the volcano still emits intense internal energy that heats the waters of the thermal pools in this natural park.

Iron-rich waters, sulfur smell, huge tree ferns and other exotic vegetation and birdsong define this place, which was really beautiful and very inviting. The largest and deepest pool, even has a waterfall that adds an even wilder touch to the environment.

Our final stop for the day was to our guide’s favourite lake… and the highest on the island. Lagoa de Fogo is a beautiful crater lake translated meaning “lake of Fire” and is located in a strato-volcanic complex in the centre of the island. Looking up into the hills, we once again weren’t sure if there would be any view at all as this place, more than any other is often covered by clouds. And it didn’t look promising… but while the clouds did float in and out, we still managed to get a wonderful glimpse of this stunning lake.

And so, we say goodbye to our insanely green hydrangea paradise with its stunning lakes and volcanoes, and fly back to Lisbon late in the evening. We arrive back at the same lovely little boutique hotel we stayed at before flying to the Azores… to a bottle of champagne waiting in our room as they knew it was Anne’s birthday tomorrow. So we sat on our bed, ate in our room and drank champagne while watching Portuguese tv… the first time we had put it on since our arrival 6 weeks ago.

The next day we had planned to celebrate Anne’s birthday at a lovely little rustic restaurant I had found on social media… in the middle of nowhere, with a fantastic view over the Atlantic Ocean. We hopped in a Bolt and then spent several relaxing hours in a very bohemian place built around an old moinho (mill) with several terraces outside where you can enjoy the views in an extremely welcoming atmosphere… eating delicious food and drinking wine.

And so, after 7 weeks, it is time to head home to real life… and as much as I love to travel, that’s always a comforting thing. Of course, I’m already planning my next trip… a part of which scares me a little as it will test this ageing but capable body once again. But I was a little anxious about how I’d go on the Camino walking 300 kilometres and it turned out to be wonderful… so I have to believe the next adventure will be too. You only get one opportunity at life to take chances and have adventures, and to make all those wonderful memories. And I think if you do something scary today you get more inspired to try more things in life… but if you do nothing today, tomorrow will be exactly the same.

So my hope and prayer is that we all be ever more entangled… aware of the breadth of life… and amazed by the wonders… all around us. Love life! Embrace aging. It’s not age that is to be feared: it’s losing your appetite for wonder and joy. And we do live in such a wonderful world…

Here’s to the next journey, whatever it may be!
Hydrangea Heaven

July 8th, 2025

“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.

Not my photo- but shows the prolific hydrangea bloom at its peak on the island… and what I was expecting to see everywhere

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.

Photo care of Google- what the cute little island looks like from above.

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.