The Azores – Part 2 (Furnas)
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Furnas – The other side of Sao Miguel island

I left Ponta Delgada and headed east to “Lagoa de Fogo”, which I set as the destination in Google maps. After a few minutes I saw a sign on the road telling I should take the exit, while Google tells me to continue…

It's a second that you need to make a decision who do you trust more. I decided to go with Google this time, as it made more sense. After something like 20 minutes I arrived at the starting point of a trail but it was rainy and foggy that it made no sense to even start it.

I decided to continue to my next hotel in Furnas, cause it seemed like no outdoor activity can take place in this weather. So I just made my way with roads that look nice 🙂 climbing hills, seeing more green – trees, bushes, shrubs, grass, you name it! It's everywhere.

At some point I saw a brown sign leading to Pico do Ferro. I didn't know what it was but a brown sign is always something good (these are the signs that always lead to special lookouts, etc.). It turned out to be a lookout on Lagoa Furnas but it was rainy and the skies were grey so didn't get a good view 🙁 .

Azores - San MIguel Lake Furnas

I got closer to Furnas which is a small town (smaller than Ponta Delgada) on the lake. I reached "Furnas spa hotel" which was really nice. The interior design was very nice, white & grey and modern. I thought to myself "what should I have for lunch" and remembered there was some local dish in this town.

מלון ספה פורנאס

What's for lunch? Cozido – A local dish

I went to a restaurant called Tony's to have what's called “cozido” and even though it was crowded, they managed to find me a table. Now to business – you get a plate with different kinds of meat and vegetables: beef, chicken, sausage, cabbage, potato, carrot, etc. which are cooked for a few hours in… the ground!

Since this area has some geothermal activity they use the heat to cook the food. Each morning hey put a big pot in the ground and at noon they go pick it up and then it's served. As you can imagine everything is quite soft since it was cooked for so long. The taste is a bit smoky and good.

קוזידו, פורנאס

Woke up the next morning and the weather was so-so. There was a minute of blue sky so I decided I'm going out. I don't want to spend another day in the hotel. Worse comes to worst I'll just be driving… I left the hotel and really close to it, there are some hot springs. I stopped and when I opened the door I got the sulfur smell in my nose, it immediately threw me a year back to Yellowstone

furnas geothermal activity
My next spot was some viewpoint but the higher I climbed the thicker the fog became, so not much could be seen. Later on, on the road, a group of cows marched towards me. The road was narrow with no shoulders so it felt a bit scary. Of course I stopped the car and waited until they passed me but there were like 40 so it took some time…

The time was about 10AM which meant I had 2 hours to kill, cause at noon I wanted to see how they pick up this “cozido”. I wandered on the roads and looked for some “miradors”.
Eventually I stopped by a waterfall which wasn't mentioned in the map. I reached a point where I decided to stop with the car cause the rest of the road was so steep, I decided to take a walk. Not too much to say about the waterfall but on the way back my breath was quite heavy.

האיים האזוריים למטייל

Now it was time to head back to the “caldeiras”, where they cook the meat. It was the first time I had to pay an entry fee and it was… 50 cents! 🙂 . It's like a small park which has a few fumaroles and hot springs, and its right on the banks of Furnas lake. The crowd was waiting for 12:30 for the cooks to come. It wasn't raining but at 12:25 Murphy shows up and rain starts to come again… Luckily it wasn't too heavy.

If I'm trying to describe it – there are a few little “holes”, each marked with the restaurant's name, so you see people just coming and with the right tools, pulling out the pot from the ground.

cozido das furnas

I continued to Povoacao (on the eastern end of the island) which apparently was the first place to be populated on the island. Sat for lunch and sure enough, the moment I sit down, the sun comes out… When I finished, clouds came back again. But it wasn't as bad as the day before so I went to Pico do Ferro again, and I think it was actually better.

Came back to the hotel to get some rest and then went for dinner at Caldeiras & Vulcoes. I started with the local beer that came in its branded glass and added a sirloin steak in pineapple sauce – it was great! At the end the owner gave me a shooter of a local liqueur so I went home a bit tipsy 🙂 .

The trip continues …

אגם פורנאס, סאו מיגל

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ערן ברימן - מטייל עם חיוך

נעים מאוד, אני ערן. נולדתי וגדלתי בת"א ואולי בגלל זה אני כל כך צמא לטבע ירוק וקריר. יצר ההרפתקנות שלי והמשיכה לבעלי חיים גדולים ו"חמודים" גורמים לי למתוח את הגבולות ולטייל למקומות קרים ורחוקים.

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