7 Fantasy Places in São Miguel
THE LUNAR SIDE OF LAGOA DO FOGO
If you catch a full moon night, do not even think about staying at home. Drive towards the Lagoa de Fogo (1) and watch a magical moment, from dusk to the rising of the enigmatic moon full of grace, on the deep blue waters of the Lagoa do Vulcão do Fogo, shrouded by the fog of the night. This is an out-of-the-world scene, where you will forget that you are in the center of the island, at one of the highest points, and that life happens down there, so far, so unusual, as in a dream.
BETWEEN SMOKES FROM A BUBBLING FLOOR
When you reach the remote, beautiful Furnas (2)valley, between the dense and bucolic green, you can see tall fumaroles, both mysterious and disturbing. In the serene night, this place gains a different magic. Silence allows us to hear clearly the life that comes from within the earth. Medicinal sludge bubbles, leaving iron tracks on the banks of the boilers. The hot smoke comes incessantly, even through the sewers. The clear springs of sour water invite you to delineate their unique properties. In the holiday season, the graceful crib boffed by the caldrons is a reason for the daily visit of dozens of people to this place.
DWAN WITH LIFE AT NORDESTE
When the sun rises it is for everyone and in São Miguel it is born in the more eastern side of the island. The viewpoints of Ponta do Sossego (3) and Ponta da Madrugada (4) are the places of choice for the contemplation of this mother nature gift. After the nocturnal stillness, here is given the unique opportunity of dawn along with the magnanimous yellow ball that appears in an immense sea and with the rest of the beings that inhabit this place; with canaries and finches chirping incessantly to greet one more day and with the flowers gravitating towards the kiss of the first rays.
WALKING BY NATURE CASTE
Get ready to put your spirit to the test by wooden bridges and occasional slipways through a lush, endemic forest on the Faial da Terra trail. All efforts are worth it as soon as you begin to hear the murmur of the fabulous Salto do Prego (5)waterfall. Take the time to relax and stimulate the senses, either by challenging yourself with an energetic dip in the icy water, or simply stretching out on a rock, dazzling your eyes and ears, while purifying your lungs with deep breaths. Along the course of the Faial da Terra stream, you come across the village of Sanguinho (6), a series of dollhouses made of stone, with recovered water mills, which will make you think that you just passed a time portal.
Photo Credit: Bruno Nabiça
A VIEWPOINT FROM WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE SKY AND THE HELL
In the Grota do Inferno (7) viewpoint we are 730 meters closer to the sky and hell is seen from the top. This viewpoint is in the reserve of the endemic forest of the Mata do Canário. The road to paradise is narrow and with diabolical abysses. But it is here at this place that we truly appreciate the limbo, with our eyes set on the Lagoa das Sete Cidades, the Lagoa do Canário, the Lagoa Rasa, and the Lagoa de Santiago, framed by the infinite sea and sky, seizing us a vertiginous emotion who hesitates between the gratitude of being alive and the indignation of human smallness.
ON THE BORDERS OF LAGOA DAS FURNAS
On one side of the Lagoon, the sleeping volcano cries out in reverence with its boilers well awake. On the opposite bank, tranquility reigns symbolized by a beautiful neo-gothic chapel erected in the 19th century, near an Anglo-Flemish cottage and a Franco-Swiss chalet. Behind these relics of times gone by, there is the exotic garden forest José do Canto (8) , which holds, among many other precious things, an enchanted valley of ferns, an impressive waterfall, and a centuries-old sequoia.
THERE ARE PLACES WORTHY OF KINGS
For the seventh place, we left the viewpoint for one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal: the Viewpoint of Vista do Rei (9). The kings Carlos and Amélia visited this place from where they enjoyed the view of the Lagoa das Sete Cidades, many years before the Monte Palace Hotel was built there. The characteristic haze of this place highlights the more than 20 years of abandonment of what was the first 5-star hotel in the Azores and that, even today, even in ruins, invites to the imagination and the dream of the stories that could have been and the stories that went.
Carla Pacheco
