Kathleen5/16/2013 – San Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
We spent two lovely days in San Miguel Island, another lovely Azorean island with Volcanic cones, blue and green lakes and lots of cows and green. We stayed in a gorgeous cottage that was built by a local Azorean who is fantastic with wood work. He grew up in Canada, but returned to the islands to live and do business there. His name is Lionel. His business partner, Lynn, set up the rental for us and we were lucky because she was in the islands at the time (she is a native of Massachusettes). She came for a visit a decade ago and loved it so much she bought a house! On our first morning in the town of Genetes, Lionel and Lynn took us for a swim in a local hot spring natural pool on the ocean. When the tide is out the water is extremely warm, and though it was overcast and around 60 degrees that morning, we stayed in and enjoyed the hot waters and the company for over an hour!
The island has some beautiful ahiking trails and we were stayianag very near to the Lagoa de Santiago, which is absolutely stunning, unfortunately, the weather was a bit overcast so we got to do less hiking than we would have liked.
Around the island, there are some beautiful towns, we went to Furnas on Lynn’s recomendation and saw the beautiful botanical gardens with another natural hot pool..the water felt like it was 90 degrees. It was strange looking because it was brown, but obviously enjoyed by locals and tourists alike…we forgot our suits, unfortunately.
We finished up the day in the capital town of Ponta Delgada, which was really a metropolis by Azorean standards, a beautiful town with a port, pretty tiled streets and lots of shops and restaurants. We shared an Azorean stew with fish, clams, mussels and shrimp – delicious!!
Our time on San Miguel was too short, but it was extremely pleasant. There seemed to be a lot more infrastructure there than on Pico, but it definately had the Azorean feel. Although we enjoyed it quite a bit, I think my Azorean heart remains in the beautiful simplicity of Pico Island. A bit behind on posting (we arrived in Casablanca yesterday), but doing the best I can!
