Furnas

Sep 17 - Wednesday - Furnas

Today was another magical day on Sao Miguel. We went to the town of Furnas, which is only about 20 miles away but took about 45 minutes to drive there. The view was spectacular.

While in the area, we visited the church of Nossa Senhora das Santana where Rosa Candida, my great, great grandmother was baptized. It was very small and simple by comparison to the church in Ribeira Grande that we saw yesterday.

 Furnas is famous for their hot springs. We toured the “caldeiras” of really smelly, sulfur ridden air. But it was quite interesting.This video gives you quite the vision, except for the smell.

We had dinner in the renowned establishment of “Tony’s”. They cook food in the hot springs, “corzidos”, but unfortunately, we had to reserve that food 24 hours in advance. So we had excellent meals of other foods. There was some adventure in the menu choices: Spencer had tongue and Camille had sardines, which were full-sized fish, again with their heads attached.

After dinner we decided to split into two groups, one group going to bath in the hot springs and the other to tour the city. Gayle, Theron, Starley, Nicki and I were in the first group and Spencer, Cindy, Jenny and Camille in the latter.

The hot springs baths were very relaxing. There were several pools were various groups of people were soaking. The water was not as hot as I expected but was very comfortable. The weather was a little cool but the water kept us plenty warm. We were very “chill” after our baths.

But then I had to ruin it by getting us lost and going in a large circle trying to find our way back to the van. Gayle seriously objected to the route I wanted to take and only after finding ourselves back at the springs did I admit that I was wrong. Fortunately, Spencer decided to come looking for us and saved us a longer hike back to the van.

The second group ended up at the Terra Nostra Hotel and Gardens. There was also a hot springs there but they opted for a walk around the gardens instead. It was unbelievably beautiful, with black geese and a wonderful lake.

We stopped for a quick snack at a little place in Furnas before heading back to the apartment, which has begun to feel like a little like home. Along the way we saw a church across the lake that looked interesting. It turned out to be a shrine to a rich man's wife that was built to honor her.

But Nicki and Starley wanted to go get something more to eat, so the three of us went back to the marina area. They had salads and then we all had ice cream. On our walk back to the car we walked past the city center, known for the arches of Ponta Delgada that is often depicted. We heard a bagpipe and saw larger-than-life puppets that must have been 12 feet tall, walk by. We went to see what was going on and were pleased to see a band forming to place music. But we had to leave before the concert started because we had ice cream for Theron and Spencer to deliver. It was an enchanting experience though.