After 10 years together with my friend, my life companion, my wife or maybe better described as my everything we now travel 10 nights to the Azores Islands.
After a long day we are finally landing at Arlanda in Sweden, we take our bags from the luggage band as two of the first passengers to do so and the trip is officially over as we start to head home from the airport but we will always have plenty of memories with us.
In Lisbon we waited and waited with almost no information about our flight bein delayed until boarding started followed by last call to the gate about 10min after the boarding started. This made us think that the boarding and take of was going to be quick but we actually had to wait inside of the bus that drove us out to the plane for about 15 more minutes before they let us get of the bus. This is something Air portugal really could have handled better, it's not to much to ask to get good information about bording and to only need to wait in the airport. Waiting on a bus full of people should never happen. Now we have anyway been flying with this Airbus A320 for a while and it's time for the flight dinner so we are just finishing an episode of Blacklist and start to eat.
Up in the air it's a smooth ride and time to get a little flight food, a smaller meal since this is just a mid-day flight to Lisbon to switch to the flight home.
Now we are checking out and leaving for the airport but it's not a rush, so we make a stop close by the volcanic steam eruptions in Furnas valley for some last pictures of the place we could see from above yesterday. From this distance it also smell quite a bit, but not even close as much as when we walked down in the Ijen volcano on another trip. This smell was only bad, it didn't affect the possibility to breathe normally. Continuing from there to the car rental place, leave the car and getting a ride by the rental company to the airport. Here at the airport it's plenty of time left so we drink some extra juice and water before going through the security scan and find a place to sit while waiting for the boarding to start.
Of course we are eating this breakfast at the hotel, it's one of the best things by staying here but this time it is the last time on this trip. We have a table by the windows to the garden and make sure we enjoy every bite while sitting here. One of the waitresses is like a sunshine every time she come and fill up the juice glass with as much energy that I'm surprised every time. I think especially Stéphanie get boosted a little extra from that simple gesture.
According to other reviews Terra Nosta garden hotel should be one of the best places to enjoy the speciality of the island, food slowly cooked for about 8 hours in the volcanic steam. In this case it can't be more locally produced since it's not only produced on this small island, it's produced within the same little village as the hotel. This was pre-ordered by me yesterday evening since they need time to prepere it. The restaurant have now changed setting, compared to how we usually see it during the breakfasts, and now have a quiet luxurious feel. We get seated and are quite quickly served with a speciality starter from the chef including to shots consisting of a soup with herbs accompanied with to pieces of fish on a stick. I start by looking through the vine list but change my mind and let the staff recommend what wine that is best suited for this special steamed dish that I'm going to get. A good choice because I like the fruity taste of the red vine that is provided already before tasting it together with the main dish. At the moment Stéphanie is eating a cold soup with bread on the side while I have a sweet potato starter dish. Both happy with the selection but even more so when the main dish enter the room. It consist of a selection of various meat and vegetablas and everything have this really juicy and soft feeling where the food is just falling apart from the simplest movement. Normally this would come with the drawback of being served in small quantities on more luxurious restaurants but in this case it is plenty of food on the plate and I have no reason to need to eat more other than it being so tasty.
Yesterday we pre-booked a face treatment together for this time; I'll get a treatment designed for men and Stéphanie a treatment with products individually selected based on her skin type. I'm positioning myself on the massage bed, face up, and start by getting a warm tovel over my feet followed by on the chest. At first I get a massage from the chest up to my head and back of my neck, followed by a scrub cleaning and further massage with cream on my face. While I'm still resting I get a foot and lowerleg massage before the treatment is over after about 60 minutes. A treatment we both are happy with.
When steying on this hotel it's really convenient to just get out to the hot pool, relax or swim for a while and then easily wash of the orange water particles without the need to change in a car a part of a trip. Instead we just get in again and take a second shower before changing.
Terra Nosta garden hotel, where we are staying, is situated in Furnas but we haven't really stopped for the views Furnas has to offer so far so even if the weather is not ideal we feel that at least one short trip should be dedicated to that. After a 10min drive we are 400m from a viewpoint on one of the mountain tops around Furnas and are walking the last bit to get an overview of this place. Some predetor, also known as unknown bird, is sailing in the wind while looking down in roughly the same direction as we are looking but probably with another intent. From here we get a good perspective over the valley and almost straight down we can see hot steam from one of the active vulcanic areas. It however feel like this is all we need when it comes to view points so we are heading back to the hotel.
It's rainy outside, making it extra cozy to relax close to the windows and look out. I'm looking at some youtube videos while Stéphanie is alternating between half sleeping and reading. But eventually I get up for some massage from the water jets in the pool as well as some time in the sauna.
Seven wonders duel is started once again and it's equally fun as always but Stéphanie really haven't had any gaming luck this trip so she is really focused at counteracting my moves. Unfortunately for her it comes to a point when two cards, that been randomly placed, are turned visible and these cards are both the key to my success. She can only take one of the cards but at this point I'll win no matter which of those cards I get since I collect science symbols, needing a last symbol, and those cards both have science symbols that I'm missing. I'm winning on a lot of luck this time.
An omelette is ordered as yesterday but this time I try aromatic herbs with onion inside it. Compared to mushrooms this choice have a more fresh taste and don't equally easily feel too much. On the side of this I eat some yoghurt with kiwis, grapes and orange. Especially kiwi is something I think both look better and feel more luxurious when served in slices.
Grilled limpets and garlic bread is decided quite quickly from my side while Stéphanie knew even before she entered the restaurant that she wanted a soup. The limpets are arriving on a pan while it's still boiling around them and the garlic bread is looking like it's dipped in garlic butter. I really recommend trying these grilled limpets if you are here. It's delicious but Stéphanie can't enjoy her food in the same way because she feel more and more ill when getting around in the car. At least it's not a long way to get home now and let her rest.
Here it is not only recommended to not drive down, it is forbidden and that is probably good since a lot o cars wouldn't handle this inclination when getting back up. We are walking down a 35 degree partly concrete and partly gravel covered road with sharp turns and even if the sign wouldn't been on the top I wouldn't have start to drive down with our 2WD Ford fiesta, it simply didn't look like a good road. After a little while we reach a viewpoint built like a platform in one of the sharp turns, providing us with a view of both the lighthouse and a waterfall while we see the sunset removing the lights slowly from the panorama scenery.
At Piscinas da Foz da Ribeira do Guilherme we are driving down on a steep road starting with a sign that it is recommended to walk down, it is however dry and looks ok so we continue driving. On the way down several sharp parts of the cliff are sticking out over the road sides and have been painted white so we suspect that those, together with the road being steep, are the reason for the recommendation in the beginning of the road. At the bottom of the valley I explore the water channel leading out to the sea while Stéphanie is sitting by a table reading on her Kindle. With rough sea this place provide a good view of waves splashing up high when they hit the protective walls being built on the shore.
Following google maps blindly to get to this viewpoint and now when we are almost there we reach an offroad track to continue. I go out from the car and scout the track to see if we can pass through and notice that we will come out on a nice road on the other side, so I get back into the car and drive this muddy narrow section with a 1m drop on the right side. Out on the other side we notice that the good road actually also is connected to the roads we came from so there really isn't a need to go offroad. Out on the viewpoint the strong winds are fluctuating, but it's a nice view of the coastline.
My first reaction when looking down in this valley from the road was that this is a cozy place. It really are nice walkpaths through the bottom of the valley as well as several waterfalls to look at. We start out by walking down to a bigger waterfall downstream in the valley and also take a look in a little shop. Next to the shop it's an old watermill and something that stands out when it comes to watermills in the Azores compared to other places where I have seen watermills is that the Azoreans build the mills with waterflow to a completly vertical stone pipe where the water is getting into the mill. Normally I have seen water on wooden channels getting into the water wheel from top instead of the side. From there we see that the water level is very low so instead of walking to the next waterfall on the road we walk on the stones in the riverbed. This makes for a much better view and leads to the next waterfall after walking under a bridge to the road.
The idea of getting to the pool after playing was to just have a relaxin time but now when we are here it is quite far from being a quiet relaxed environment due to several children playing around loudly in the water. Apparently their parents, that wasn't even nearby, don't understand what a relax room should be used for and since the children are talking on some other language than we can speak it's hard to tell them anything without help. The hotel even have a playroom for children in the basement. I do what I can to ignore the sounds while Stéphanie is almost boiling over on the inside because she don't know how to solve this issue. Eventually the children are leaving the room and we get some quiet time in the sauna.
Now playing cave vs cave again and Stéphanie is starting by digging out the tunnel. She forgot about that you can start by building and now when she remember it her whole strategy is just bad according to her. In my opinion it can be either good or bad but it's too early to tell from just one move. It continues and when the last move now is done Stéphanie feel like this is totally hopeless, we dont don't even need to count the points. She just tell me that I win, but I have noticed that the game was much more even than she thought it was so I'm insisting on counting the points anyway and funny enough she win by three points. A surprised Stéphanie makes winning gestures and say Yheeee, I'm the WINNER!
Some hot meals are included in the breakfast and today we are trying out an omelette with mushrooms and chorizo accompanied by the fresh delicous orange juice that they serve every day.
Two of our friends recommended the non alcoholic mojitos at this place and since it now is a good opportunity to try it out we are heading there for dinner, also taking the time to get up on the view point almost right beside the restaurant. We can't other than to continue to recommend this mojito to others but that isn't the only tasty thing when being here; I ordered a Paella and I'm now eating delicious sea food with a great variation from a big pan. It was the one person menu but it is enough on this place to be shared with someone else and when that comes from me it is quite a big meal.
At this time it isn't much energy left in us to see everything this city has to so we are just walking by some old buildings and a church on the way to the Ponta Delgada city gate. But it doesn't need to be a long walk here for it to be a nice walk when it comes to looking at old buildings.
Angels & Angels bar have both soup and toasts, making for a perfect short snack and the toasts get some plus points for their freshness. I got served two toests with triple bread layers and just the right amount of crispy feeling.
Right on time is really describing this timing because we arrived to a parking lot probably just one or two minutes before it became a huge cue on the road, probably due to the end of the school day for children in a school just outside the botanic garden Jardim António Borges. Several walkpaths apear before us, each one leading to different levels in a steep small valley, and it's nice to just walk through anywhere.
Already during the kayak trip I was thinkin about that it would be fun to try paddle boarding but it wasn't enough time to do it that day, so now we are here again. Stéphanie prefer to stay and read on land so I start by parking the car somewhere futher away from the paddle board rental where she can sit and read, where I easily can get up on land and where it is also easy to auto land Mavic air. I'm running back to the paddle board rental place, get out on the water and start paddling a thing like this for the first time ever. It is relaxing, quite slow and I could probably do this quite some time before gettin tired so it is definitely no problem to enjoy the views during the ride. It takes me about 7min to get 1km, where Stéphanie is, and then I get up on land. The gps signal is very good here so it will be no problem for Stéphanie to practice a little with the Mavic air since if something doesn't work out she can just release the controls and it will stay in place until the battery is low, from which point it will go back to the homepoint I set it to auto land at. We are testing it and the drone probably landed within 10cm from the starting point despite some stronger winds at the moment. The drone get to park in the air some distance out over the lake after I inserted a fresh battery and then I go back out on the water with the paddle board. While I'm on the water Stéphanie try to follow me both with tracking features as well as manually, being helped a lot by the live camera feed sent back to her, but after a while it's time to land and everything goes exactly as during the practice when it landed by itself. I continue to paddle back with the board, run to Stéphanie and we head out on the road again.
It's an open seat boat for 20 people so not a very big one and if it would be windy it could probably be a bumpy 10min ride but now the sea is very calm, not like a mirror but only with slow small waves. Going towards the little Island gives us a good view of it on a closer distance and this will show later to be the only view that let us see the free standing cliff that is separatdd from the rest of the island. That is because now when we enter the island we get restricted where to walk and there are no viewpoints looking at that separate cliff. We are walking in to the island centre where it is a almost perfect round pool of water, connected to the atlantic ocean but naturally protected from waves from all sides. There even is a small beach which seal of part of the water even more from even the waves that have got all the way into the circle. This ciclular area is the only one allowed to be in and in my opinion it could be marked on a map before the trip so it's easier to know what to expect. Due to these restrictions I can't take photos from the top as I thought that I would be able to do but at least I can walk up a little bit to a viewin platform for the circular area, at this place I get a good view of the water as well as I get a close look at lizzards staying at the stones. Down in the water it was much warmer than I expected and shallow enough to walk around but staying here one hour is enough so we are now heading back for the first boat that will head back. While walking to the boat I'm spotting a big crab, making Stéphanie nervous that we will miss the boat when I stop for some photos but I'm right on time which is all that counts.
Today it's important to start early because we have a boat to catch at 10:00. No rush when getting up in this time so we still take the time for a relaxing breakfast.
Stéphanie have made this place to her favorite soup place but now we are trying out their pizza instead. It's one basic pizza on which we chose ingredients one by one. Since this is a more simple restaurant and I didn't think their burgers were that special I didn't expect too much but I must say that I'm positively surprised by the pizza. It's very well prepered, a little crisp feeling in the edges but still not burnt anywhere and soft in the middle.
It really is a marvel how much power in terms of heat that once must been released at this place. It's very clear how the lava have been flowing out into the sea where it have cooled down rapidly to form these cliffs. I'm walking on top of this lava cliff and now down into one of its cracks, continuing to where the sea is splashing over from the sides and seal off one part of the cliff from the rest of the island. It really isn't a problem to pass this water to explore the mini lava island further but I don't have my wet shoes on at the moment so I skip that part, the view is good enough anyway. Flying with a drone wouldn't be recommended either at this point since it is very strong winds at the moment, but even without the wind it is too close to the airport to be flying without a pre-planned approved route.
We are playing 7 wonders duel again and it's as always an exciting game but this time Stéphanie get her well earned big victory after some prolonged bad gaming luck durin the latest games.
Nothing planned for today other than having a relaxed time so we start with a late breakfast.
Now we are back in Furnas but Stéphanie feel a little ill after the bumby ride with many turns and steep walks so we go for a safe food choice, the same soup she ate the first day since that worked fine that time. I'm eating a hamburger with egg on top and fries on the side. Nothing special but everything that is needed to feel alright before putting ourselves in the bed while enjoying a movie, this night with the title Hunter Killer.
Going in on this road is bumpy and suddenly it feels extra good that we paid for a car insurance that even cover off road driving. We arive to a parking lot with a sign that you are not allowed to park or stop on the road that continues down the hill from the parking lot so we stop and start walking. The road down is very steep and would probably result in many cars having problems to get up again if it would be raining, but it's no problem to walk and after about 400m we have reached the bottom of the valley. At this point we can see that it is possible to drive down and park down here as well since it is a second parking lot here, but if one does decide to do that only do it with a good car. A sign point us in a direction leading to a water spring but, to our disappointment, no waterfall. There are some other people here but since I seem to be the only one that don't care if I'll become wet I just crossed the water to both experience view non of the other would as well as getting some nice photos. Stéphanie didn't prepare for this walk path to be muddy absolutely not that she would need to cross a stream of water so I do my best to get her into a good dry position while I explore a little on my own. Still no sight of a waterfall, not even when checking the birds eye view downstream, so we head back to the second parking lot to check out an area higher up stream. No signs are leading in this direction but here it is, the about 10m high waterfall. I thought a little about taking a bath when first getting the water in sight but Stéphanie don't look like she is feeling so well and in that case it is also nice to just explore the area as well as taking some nice photos. It's still a challenge to make Stéphanie stay dry but it works and the water is shallow so I'm just walking around in it while taking some photos. We continue by walking up to the top of the waterfall on some stairs and ledges, leading us through a narrow cliff section with the waterfall underneath us. Simply beutiful and there are some rings attached in the cliffs so people are probably repelling down through this waterfall sometimes. Back at the bottom of the waterfall it's now less people so we take the time to get some pictures from the air as well. It is however no GPS or cell phone coverage within this narrow section of the valley and downward sensors on drones can be unreliable over water so the Mavic air automatically restrict the fly height to 5m since it is then controlled only by the user input and gyroscope. I don't know if this can be changed, since I'm able to control it higher up from earlier flight experience with a helicopter, but for now it will have to be good enough.
A Merenda is a café and restaurant but we are currently only interested in the café part of it, where we are looking for something sweet as well as some bread to have in the car. A layered dessert with cream in the middle and chocolate on top seems really good so we are going for that one together with a dark brown bread. The dessert taste good but I was actually expecting it to be soft enough to eat with spoon and to my surprise that wasn't really feasible without completly destroying it.
In the centre of this city is a small river around which dekorations and plants have been put up. We are walking along it and just breath in the atmosphere. It is especially nice how they have built waterfalls within the park right next to where we are walking. Following the stream of water takes us to the ocean where there are a lot of big waves todays, but they seem to break quite quickly at this place so not very ideal to be out surfing on them. Our hats don't really want to stay on in the windy conditions but even though it is a northern wind it is quite warm.
Our friends Svea and Gustaf gave us the game Caverna right in time to bring it with us during the vacation and now we are playing it. It was a very even game, but to Stéphanie's excuse she had forgot one rule that might or might not have changed the outcome. We will never know but something I do know is that it will not be long until a rematch begins.
It's raining lightly outdoors while we are eating breakfast but if the forecast is correct it will be better weather during the afternoon and perfect for a trip somewhere.
It's rainy and for that reason not very fun to walk for to long to get something to eat for dinner but on Google maps there are good reviewes for a Chinese restaurant 650m away so that is now the target. We enter a little house with quite special architecture for the inside and get seated. I chose a buffé, which mean that I can order as many dishes I want for a fixed pdrice, while Stéphanie's choice got to be fried rise with vegetables.
It's rainy but that doesn't matter when going to the naturally warm pool in the garden.
Board game nerds as we are we have brought board games with us on the trip, out of which 7 wonders duel was first out. At the moment it is the second round after the first being won by me, by having 6 science symbols. Now during the second round I aim to win by collecting military forces and have even selected the wonders that give me more of those. This is a risky strategy since if I don't win by reaching the maximum on the military scale I will most probably be loosing due to having almost no other points. Stephanie is faster to build her wonders which sabotage one of my wonders but I still get out the wonders that provide me with increased military forces, which in turn is just enough if I can pick two more military cards. There are only two more of those cards visible at the moment so I aim for them completly, which Stephanie can see from a mile away. Luckily for me one of the hidden cards now show to be a military card and after taking that I'm now quite certain to win. Game goes on and my resources are just about enough to buy the last card I need to win. Stéphanie is however eager to play more later, determined to win the next game.
The weather is not as good today but it doesn't matter since we anyway already decided to relax this day and we start doing that by eating a late breakfast.
Earlier I wrote about being stung by some bushes an now when I finally take off my cloathes it can be seen. My right leg have about 20 red dots with about 5 mm radius, so apparently it was toxic. At least it doesn't hurt so hopefully it will be better after a good night of sleep.
Getting into this restaurant after an eventful day really boost our energy, all thanks to Alfonso. He makes the dinner a true personal experience with a really positive attitude. So far I feel somewhat unlucky on this island when it comes to spice but that was quickly changed to a positive reaction in this restaurant when the fresh potato chips with three dip sauces were served as a starter. The main dish, super quesadillas, continued this experience in a good way followed by one of the best cheesecakes that I've tried. We left the restaurant very happy about the privous google reviewes that led us here and can't other than recommend the place for everybody else that are also in search for tasteful food in a simple environment.
Ponta da Ferraria is a place along the western coastline where we right now experience waves clashing into the sharp and completly vertical cliffs. It was easy to get down to this place along a steep road and get a spot on a quite big parking lot but we really need to walk carefully on these cliffs, everything is sharp and just a minor fall would hurt a lot. One spot along the cliff edge has some rocks on which we are sitting down while I make use uf the camera. Some fly photos over the water really are giving us unique perspectives before we continue along the road.
They are just about to close the kayak rental within a little less than an hour but we just got to rent a sit-on-top kayak for an hour and are paddling from Lagoa Azul to Lagoa Verde. After 10 years together we just figured out that this might be the first time we paddle kayak together. It's of course extra fun when it's the first time and I do most of the paddling so Stéphanie can think more about taking photos as well as enjoying the ride.
It always quite fun with bird photography, probably because it is unexpected and dynamic so before we continue I catch a few photos of the birds in Lagoa Verde.
It's quite obvious what this is, it's a failed hotel business. But it actually look like it never even have been opened, it's just the concrete structure that is still standing. A quick google search however let you know that this hotel once was a five star hotel with the hotel of the year award recieved the same week that they had to close down due to being bankrupt. The views from the hotel are amazing but at the time it was hosting guests it were not that many trevellers getting to the Azores islands and when they did this location was quite unconvenient to get to from all other places, with other words not the best situation when many guest are needed for the business to work out. When the hotel stopped being guarded people started to steal everything from furniture to complete built in bath tubs, nothing except the concrete have been left untouched. It's not allowed to enter but no one is guarding it so it is quite easy to get in if one would want to see it from the inside. However, we worry somewhat about the structural integrity since so many things been destroyed so we are not entering the building. Some photos from the outside are good enough and while continuing to watch this hotel failure from a distance we are eating ice cream sold on the street. I also found out right now that a Chinese real estate company have taken on the task to reopen the hotel year 2021, making it extra interesting to check out the difference in a couple of years if they succeed.
From the coal aqueduct it's just a little more than 100m inclination to the highest point of the mountain so I just had to continue the walk there, giving Stéphanie an opportunity to sit and read since she preferred some rest. I'm first walking by the biggest section of the coal aqueduct and then continue following the red-yellow-markers along the road to the top. I'm walking quite fast to not let Stephanie wait for to long and walking past some people on the way that don't seem to like it being this steep, judged from their breathing. A short while later I'm standing on the top and can just breath in the stunning view showing both sides of the Island, with a clear day like today it's nothing to block the view. So in total I'm looking at the island as a whole with sea on the sides as well as three lakes close to each other; all this in warm temperature, quite slow wind speeds and while standing on soft grass.
An old coal aqueduct can be seen here; we are walking beside it, take a few photos and look on the cows on the other side of it.
On the way back to the car but through an area with a small lake. The fish here are quite big and curious about the gopro camera when I'm dipping it in the water.
Earlier than this would not been possible to be here if we wanted to eat breakfast at the hotel but if one would like to be alone here I recommend to be here at sunrise, maybe even before and wait for the sunrise. It is already other people here but we are walking alone on the first part of the trail to the viewpoint, stopping at a platform where we get a first look at one part of the valley. We continue and reach the viewpoint, not alone but not either crowded. While standing here in perfect sunny weather under a blue sky, we can see three lakes and the sea at the same time at all of its glory. The cliff has several edges extending towards the valley, out of which the viewpoint platform is located on the biggest edge, but to get alone on an edge for a while we walked to the other edges. I'm walking on the edge furthest away from the viewpoint while Stéphanie is walking on the edge more close to it, making for good photo opportunities of each other. To cross from my edge to Stéphanie's edge I choose to walk down and up over the edges in between, making it look both funny and scary at the same time when I accidentally sink down in a hole with one foot followed by falling forward. From my perspective this is quite safe since there are a lot of vegetation but from Stéphanie's perspective this looks more like I'm going to slide of the cliff and fall 300m down. I anyway get up quickly and continue to walk but this really isn't the best path, leading to me being stung by some plant that also was a little hard to cross. Finally up on the same edge as Stéphanie I do the only thing that I think is feeling scary, I slip in the mud but I have good shoes so I quickly get stuck again. I don't want to start sliding here, it's just 10m to the edge, but walking on the vegetation to the side of the edge is a much safer way to walk down to Stephanie so I'm doing that instead which she actually did from the beginning. Her shoes has less grip so she felt the slippery mud earlier and then started to walk on the side to get less affected by it. Out on the edge it is a really good view and we think this provides a much better feeling than being on the viewpoint.
To get to some viewpoints it is important to be there early during the morning to get some views without a lot of people, so now we are just eating the breakfast quick. The bags are already packed so we should waist no extra time doing that. Today I'm eating yoghurt, sandwiches, egg and bacon with fresh orange juice. The yoghurt have been topped with a spoon of physalis jam, which I very rarely eat otherwise but now can't understand why not since it is very tasty. Stéphanie want to eat a little slower so she is eating a little during the breakfast but also bring two sandwiches with her to have during the ride to the first location of the day.
My intention when looking at the menu is to find something locally produced, preferably that I don't use to eat. The fish they can serve seems good so I'm gong for that option. In comes a plate with a big fish slice and its vegetables on top of it make the taste of that upper half very good, unfortunately the rest of the fish taste very plain. The vine was not bad but the selection could also been a lot better.
At first we thought about taking a bath in the thermal outdoor pool after my run but during the run I saw a lot of people there so we are walking down to the indoor pool instead to get a more relaxing environment. First a bath and then some time in the sauna before sinking down in two sun chairs by the windows to the garden.
I don't want to rest but Stéphanie does so I'm getting out on a run in the botanic garden while Stéphanie rest for a while. First I want to see the edge of the garden so I'm turning right and continue to run to the right path every time there is a crossection where the right path is not turning around. This is a quite good path to maintain the pace because it is turning quite slowly but after 1.4km I'm now back at the starting point and to vary the second lap I instead head for a walk path. It leads me through the park with many sharp turns and it is very hard to maintain the pace but on the other hand it is much more interesting in terms of things to see. 2km later I'm now back at the starting point again, a total of just 3.4km but it was just what I needed.
When stopping at this viewpoint it became clear that we would need to walk for a very long time to reach the base of the waterfall, so the long distance perspective will have to be enough for this time.
A waterfall should be somewhere in this valley and it feels like a good idea to park furthest down the road to hike along the water to find it so that is what we are doing. But it doesn't seem to be any waterfall higher up so instead I'm walking ahead of Stéphanie to shoot some video on the way back to her. Good videos but still no waterfall in sight so we start with the same search downstream, again without result. It have been fun walking in this valley but we don't want to go through the mud to cover longer distances downstream so we get into the car and start driving back now.
Spontaneous findings like this flower wall really are the best surprises during a trip and now we have stopped in Caldeira because we drove by a really beutiful section alon the road just a few seconds ago. We are walking back to that section and I of course take the opportunity to fly through this area while we are walking along the road, giving us a great birds view of all the flowers. Due to the vegetation the GPS signal is really weak so it's important that I don't use the go home functionality of the Mavic air this time since it might try to be heading for the wron location. This is no problem since it's super easy to land manually as well.
Great view point over the Fire lake with not as great weather and a lot of people describe the situation quite well right now. But why stop at the normal view point when it is possible to stop along the road 200m away and then walk out on a trail over the mountain top edge, as we are doing right now. It is really not as dangerous as it might sound but it really improves the scenery to be almost alone instead of having a bunch of people around. The weather didn't want to cooperate, but it is good enough to be flying with our mavic air so I'm putting it on a safe start zone and let it fly. Being on high up on a mountain certainly letting the drone work harder due to the constantly shifting winds over the mountain edge, but it is handling it really good. I continue by putting it in follow mode and start walking along the top with Stéphanie closely behind me as well as some turns to capture the full scenery. I should have turned on the cinema mode before doing these shots to make it smoother but figuring it out now when I'm already back at the start point to land doesn't help so I'll keep it in mind for later instead. Despite the wind it is actually 63% left of the battery capacity so I'll even be able to do some other quick videos with the same battery later before switching to the next spare battery.
Waking up in total silence and darkness describe well how I experience the room, very relaxing while continuing to write a little on the tablet while still being in bed. It's perfect to write something at this time of the day because I need the least sleep of us two and then I can use the extra time for writing or exercising to not disturb. Stéphanie is just waking up and the breakfast is also starting to be served two floors down since the time now is 07:30. I put on some cloathes, put the tablet in my right pocket and head down with Stéphanie following behind and giving notice to that my hair is looking funny after the sleep. Down at the restaurant the staff is showing us which table is reserved for us as well as serving juice before we continue to the buffé tables. The choices on the tables range from sandwiches to fish to hot bacon and egg as well as an extra thick variant of pancake with syrup and jam selections. I have been on restaurants with even larger selections for the breakfast but I still wouldn't complain at all about this, it's a really nice breakfast.
Non of us are really that hungry because we have not been so active during the day so we are checking out a few of the walkpaths of the garden right now, noticing several natural hot pools and sculptures of plants. Getting in to the garden is free since we stay at the hotel but if you don't stay here you can still get in to the garden by paying an entrence of 8 Euro. biggest trail seem to be good for running so I will for sure try that out another day but right now when we have seen a little at this place we also want to eat something simple. It is not a very special restaurant that we found close to the hotel but it is good enough for something quick and simple.
As a contrast to what we often have done so far we now check in at a more luxurious hotel, Terra Nosta Garden Hotell. We are now entering our big room with a balcony in the direction of the garden. At this time I could just leave the bags and go for a swim in the hot natural pools but since Stéphanie is tired I'm instead bringing up the computer to start an episode from Blacklist.
We are now on the second plane, heading towards the Azores Islands, but it is actually the exact same plane as the first one and even more surprising is that our seats are the ones next to the first seats we had. At the time when we stepped of the plane earlier we didn't know this and Stéphanie were quite stressed about that the transfer time, until the gate for the second flight would close, was only 20 minutes. As soon as we got the new information it was however plenty of time. Stéphanie have a water bottle with a built in straw and on the first flight she forgot to depressurize it before drinking, resulting in water blowing up in her face. Now it was time for the funny event to repeat itself because she just wake up from a little nap and didn't think twice about that the bottle now is pressurized again. I didn't have time enough to stop her but this time I at least got a better view of the 40cm high fountain comin up from the bottle just to land all over Stéphanie. Luckily for me I wasn't hit but it was really close to come water on the person sitting on the seat in front of Stéphanie, some droplets stayed on top of the headrest to that seat. I got some paper from the toilet so Stéphanie could try to get some of the water out from the cloathes and she got a refill of water when talking to the crew, inevitably also giving them a smile. I'm writing about this while Stéphanie is reading but now it's time to stop typing and start eating, we got a sandwich and a really tasty but probably equally unhealthy chocolate cake.
I most of the time think it is quite unclear what type of food, if anything, that is included in the flight when travelling with cheap tickets. We are now sitting in an Airbus A321 neo airplane operated by Air portugal and this time is no different, but we have just got a hot meal with juice and a little orange cake. They actually get plus points for the dessert feeling extra fresh, usually I think desserts on planes are a little dry. With the sun on our side of the plane we can look out at a beutiful scenery at any time while eating but when we have finished the food the sun screens will go down to the benefit of better contrast while watching Blacklist on Viaplay while the plane is heading for Lisbon.
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