It was a rainy morning and Ana needed more time in bed after a very poor sleep so I spent some time doing some writing and eating fresh buns and bananas. We overdid it with Ana’s mom with the walking yesterday and today she could barely get out of bed, and when she did, the first stop was to hobble to the couch to lay down. Sorry Maria.
Earlier this year I had made an “Insiders Guide to Sao Miguel” map for my cousin Megan and Adam and spawn who were visiting this summer. I included all of our favourite spots (if you want the link send me a note…the island is busy enough with tourists, don’t need to advertise all the gems they haven’t overrun yet) but also a bunch of places that looked interesting but we were yet to visit. So today we headed to the north-east side of the island to start with a walking trail that led to a triple waterfall (Miradouro das Tres Bicas). We drove to the town of Lomba de Maia then struggled to figure out where the trail began. There was a very helpful signpost with two trail signs for the “Trilho Municipal Da Barquinha”, one pointed left and one pointed right. Nearby was a trail map that showed the trail route but wasn’t very clear on exactly where it started. However, it did rate the trail difficulty as EASY in large, green letters. At times like these it’s always good to ask a local. A lady approached on the street.
“Excuse me,” Ana said in Portuguese, “are you from here?”
“Yes, I’m from here,” she replied.
“Can you tell us how to get to the trail that takes us to the waterfalls?”
She looked at us blankly. “What waterfalls?”
“Tres Bicas, it’s called.”
“Not around here. But I think maybe it’s in the Furnas region,” she said, pointing 33 kilometres to the south.
“Uh okay. Obrigada.”
Remembering from previous travels that locals don't have a clue about anything interesting near where they live, we just started walking east and once through town found a tiny marker and stone staircase leading down into the forest, well hidden and clearly unbeknownst to locals. I had been successful in getting Ana to wear decent shoes but I did not insist on athletic wear, which she didn’t bring on the trip anyway, I didn’t expect we were going to be doing any serious hiking. Well, the trail started out innocently enough, but soon started dropping, and dropping, down a series of natural paths, ancient rock steps, and tree branch handrails, all quite beautiful.
The faint sound of the waterfalls slowly gained power as we descended further and further into the forest. Finally ,we found a sign pointing towards the Tres Bicas, also identifying it as a “Difficult Alternate Path”. Well I wasn’t stopping after coming this far and Ana decided the same so we dropped down what felt like a few thousand more feet as it got slippier and muckier, but we finally reached the waterfalls just as Ana was about to give up. It was quite spectacular, and there were no other humans anywhere. Beautiful, but we learned a valuable lesson: they hired mountain goats to rate the trails in the Azores. Or maybe we are just wimpy.
The next stop was less intense, but intensely beautiful. The Parque Da Ribeira Dos Caldeiroes, near the town of Santana, is a fantasy watermill scene within a mystical fairy tale. Multiple waterfalls, steep flowered and ferned embankments, goldfish ponds, aqueducts, levadas, stone mill buildings, and flagstoned pathways. It was surreal. And there were just a handful of tourists there, plus a band of canyoners who must have been rappelling down the rock faces, but they were nearly done by the time we saw them.
I’m not sure why we haven’t been to this place before, but it proves once again that this small island is uniquely blessed with incredible sights and experiences.
It was time to dial things back so we drove to Moofana Café, a place I’d found that promised unforgettable cheeseburgers. It was a groovy spot, just a small shack beside a farm on the outskirts of Lomba de Maia. I don’t think they had a menu; just one item, with or without cheese. So we ordered a mini Sagres beer, a Coke, and two cheeseburgers, then sat at one of the outdoor tables, enjoying the bursts of sunshine that burned through the intermittent clouds. The food arrived and it was delicious. We ate the burgers as slow as we could, but still way too fast, then chilled for a while before paying the 15 euro bill and hitting the road.
Moofana will be the newest entry on my “Sao Miguel for Insiders” map.
Last stop on our whirlwind day trip was the fine city of Ponta Delgada, ocean city, port city, the city coloured in black and white, the city whose waterfront has few equals. We drove into downtown and took the ramp down into the underground parking which spans the entire waterfront, hidden underground, and is a goddamn engineering marvel. Anytime I see any stupid infrastructure at home, or have somebody telling me some common sense city engineering is “just too difficult” or better yet, “impossible”, I think about this parking garage. It should be one of the highlights of anybody’s visit here, and I’m totally serious.
As it had only been two years since our last visit, there weren’t many changes in the city that we could spot, the only significant one being the Peter Café Sport retail shop in the Portas do Mar had closed, which probably saved me a bundle, as last time I walked out with a bunny hug, t-shirt, coffee mug, and cool oil rain hat, all branded, all full price. And I never buy anything new, particularly clothes. I was a little sad to see this, but the rest of downtown was hopping and lively.
No comments:
Post a Comment