Ponta Delgada; Saturday, 25 May, 2019

The apartment I was staying in provided breakfast hampers, so after my shower I popped my head out of the door to find a large hamper with my room number on it outside my door. Clearly the apartment owners hadn’t checked the reservation, or just assumed that a double room would always be occupied by two people, as the breakfast was clearly enough for two. So, I had a very filling breakfast as was able to pack a couple of items into my bag should I need them later in the day.

I headed out of the flat and down to the city gate where I was meeting my driver for todays tour. I’d originally booked the tours back for my 2018 trip and the company had been really good on refunding me, despite a no-refund policy, when the weather cancelled my flights and left me staying on Madeira. So, I’d immediately rebooked with them once I’d confirmed this trip. Today was a tour of the Eastern end of the island, with a tour of the West and central parts of the island booked for tomorrow.

I was first to be picked up so was able to claim a good window seat behind the driver. We made one more pickup stop as there was a large party of friends who were going to be split over two buses for the day. After meeting the other bus and collecting everyone we headed out of Ponta Delgada and had a brief stop a short way out of town at a black sand beach before heading on to the town of Vila Franca do Campo. From there we ascended up some very steep roads to a viewpoint and chapel high on the hills above the town, from where there were good views over the South coast of São Miguel Island.

We then headed inland and climbed up over and down into the caldera of the Furnas volcano, firstly to look at the fumaroles and bubbling pools near the crater lake and then headed further into town to have a look at the natural springs and further fumaroles. We were able to sample the water from a couple of the springs, which was naturally fizzy due to all the minerals dissolved in it.

The tour included lunch at a restaurant in Furnas that specialises in the local stew called Cozido that is cooked by burying the cooking pot in the ground, so it’s heated by the volcanic activity taking place underground. After lunch we headed out of the town and climbed back out of the volcanic crater before heading further north and stopping at a viewpoint on the rim of the crater high above where we had stopped by the lake in the morning. From here there were views across the whole of the enormous crater.

Having taken in the views we then headed further north to the Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeirões where a waterfall and river have carved out a gorge that a couple of small mills have been set up along to take advantage of the waterpower. We had a wander around the site, including by the waterfall and partway down the gorge before heading back to the vans and riding the short distance to the North coast where we stopped at a couple of viewpoints along the way.

After the final viewpoint it was time to head back into Ponta Delgada, which only took around 20 minutes as by this time we were at one of the thinnest points on the island, and it was barely 10KM to cross from North to South coast.

Back in Ponta Delgada we did the drop-offs in the reverse order, so I was last to be dropped off, though by now the festivities in the town centre were really starting to crank up a gear which meant the guide could only get to within a couple of blocks of my hotel to let me out.

I quickly popped back to the hotel to drop off some stuff and freshen up and then headed out into town, partly looking for dinner, but also to take in some of the festivities that were taking place.