Day 14 – Tuesday, July 3, 2012
As the end of our trip loomed, Ana grabbed the guidebook
to see if there was anything on the island we may have missed, and she found a
place called Ponta da Ferraria, which is some sort of natural hot springs in
the ocean and is located on the western side part of the island. So after breakfast we packed up and drove
there, along the way stopping at a lovely cafe up on a cliff overlooking a calm
and deep blue ocean.
The hot springs themselves are on private property and a
small complex has been built which houses a restaurant and what looks like a
very nice spa. You have to pay to get
into the hot pools, and when we arrived it was occupied by a bunch of old
tourists, floating around farting, so we decided to save the eight euro each
and the hot pool the cold shoulder. A
short walk away down a lovely lava rock path is an area with a natural ocean
pool, which we explored but decided not to go swimming. The best part of the experience was actually
the awesome view overlooking the whole area, which we stopped at before driving
down the half dozen steep switchbacks which led to the complex.
We then drove to the town of Misteiros, which is located
on the western-most point of Sao Miguel.
We had been here on previous trips, and weren’t overly impressed, but
this time was a much different experience, perhaps because the weather was so
beautiful, or perhaps because we weren’t dealing with screaming babies and poo
poo diapers, but in any case, this was one of the best afternoons of the trip.
We first took a drive around town, went for a quick
stroll to see the beach, whose jet black sand looked extremely hot, then found
the natural pools, which looked like a lovely place to spend some time. But first.....lunch! We went to a seafood restaurant close to the
pools, which actually looked sort of touristy, but served an excellent lunch
and offered the cheapest 50cl mug of beer I’ve had yet at the bargain price of
one euro and fifty cents. I had a plate
of swordfish, which was cooked perfectly, but the one thing that I’ve noticed
is that there is little variety of vegetables served with meals. Considering they can grow pretty much any
type of plant on this island, meals are almost always served with boiled
potatoes or french fries and sometimes a small garden salad. And always bread, lots of bread. Haven’t any broccoli, cauliflower, peas,
carrots, asparagus, or any of the other vegetables you might typically see
served in a North American restaurant.
Maybe that’s why the kids have been eating so well.
After lunch, we went back to the pools and found an
amazing spot which we had to ourselves all afternoon. It was a set of two natural ocean water pools
nestled into the black volcanic rocks, hidden away from view. As the ocean waves rolled in, the larger ones
would surge into the bigger pool, then the water would cascade into the smaller
pool and then empty back into the ocean.
The pools were large enough to snorkel in, which we did, and found all
sorts of fish, crabs, coral and a bunch of the tiny creatures which resembled
mini lobsters. The water was cool,
refreshing and crystal clear, so a perfect relief from a hot day. Ana and Stella found a nice flat spot on the
rocks, laid down some towels, and did a couple hours of sun tanning, while
Magnus and I swam around and did some exploring in the rocks, looking for
crabs.
The entire time we were enjoying this paradise, we couldn’t figure out
why there were no other people around, but as we left and drove a bit further
up the road, we found another natural pool area which is where everybody was,
likely because it also had a sand beach, change rooms and a small cafe.
We decided to head back and drove to Ana’s cousin Carmelia’s house,
where they were having a big dinner.
Ana’s dad had told everybody that we were leaving on the Wednesday (it’s
actually Thursday), probably to sneak in another massive family gathering, so
there was a huge crowd, pretty much all the same people who had joined in at
the previous feedings. They have a
lovely outdoor dining area and outdoor kitchen and had cooked the entire meal
in a wood burning oven. As usual, there
was plenty of food and wine and the dinner lasted until well after dark. We arrived back at tia Ana’s house feeling
well tanned, well fed and ready for bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment