It was time
to pack some more miles on the rental car and tour the east side of the island.
We had our standard breakfast of fresh buns, cheese, chorizo paste, bananas,
and I was trying to find the delicious grape jam that tio Manuel made, but I
think he hid it on me because I’ve been eating too much of it.
I popped the
car into first gear and peeled away on a fine Saturday morning, which could
have been a Monday for all I cared - they are all the same when on vacation. We
drove east to Ponta Garca and just past there saw a sign pointing to a place
we’d never head of called Praia Da Amora. We drove down a wickedly steep road,
and then down a wickedly steeper road with a single lane, hoping nobody was
going to be driving up. There was a small dirt parking lot, an ancient fountain
with fresh water spilling out of it, and a trail leading down into the forest.
We parked the car and started walking down, not knowing where it was going, but
ready for a hike to start the day. The path was steep, but not vertical like
the last one, and ended up close to the shoreline, but the path itself was
starting to crumble and let go from the side of the cliff, so we didn’t push
our luck and stopped there instead of trying to follow it all the way down. As
usual, the way back up was a snap for the kiddies and slightly tougher for the
parent figures. At the top, Magnus buried his head into the fountain and drank
a bunch of the water straight from the tap, and only after asked me if I
thought the water was safe to drink.
“Of course!”
I said.
“Great, do
you want to drink some?” Magnus asked.
“Are you
crazy? No way.”
We continued
driving and came across a “Miradour” sign which means a lookout or viewpoint.
At the top of the hill we found an intriguing building called Castelo Branco -
White Castle, and it did indeed look like a small castle, quite different from
all the other buildings we’ve seen here. The wind was howling at the top of the
hill, so we stayed just long enough to climb the tower and take some pictures
from atop of the structure. I scrubbed the internet trying to find out what
this tower was used for but came up blank. There are many whale spotting towers
scattered around the island, but these are usually much closer to the ocean
than this one and have a very different look. I asked the cousins too and they
didn’t know anything about it.
The next
part of the drive took us to the town of Povocao, probably both Ana and my
favourite village on the island, and one which we’ve visited every time we’ve
been to the Azores. Why is it so cool? The fully cobblestoned paths with
amazing decorations build into the rock, the many restaurants, the free zoo, the
marina, the river flowing out into the ocean, and the ancient monument in the
middle of town inscribed with 1432 - the year of the discovery of the Azores.
And all of this within a short walk of the middle of the town. We stayed for
lunch at one of the Snack Bars and had four full meals, two beers, drinks for
the kids, coffee and dessert for 21 euros. What a deal.
Furnas was
our next stop, so we did some backtracking and then had to decide which hot
spring to visit - Poca da Dona Beija (the one we were at last Sunday) or the
ones at Terra Nostra Gardens. We chose to go back to the first one, basically
because we had so much fun last week, we wanted one more swing at it. And
although much busier than last week, it was great! After the spa we explored
Furnas a bit more, finding an amazing viewpoint over the town, and going for a
walk around Furnas lake, where there was an old, deserted church and botanical
gardens.
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