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Published: September 13th 2012
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Sao Miguel
The island of Sao Miguel with a few of the towns labelled that we visited Hike PR4SMI – Mata do Canario Sete Cidades – Sao Miguel
We had a beautiful sunny day on September 4
th so planned a day of hiking around Sete Citades. We caught the 8:25AM bus from Ponta Delgada (3.36 euro/person each way) to the village of Sete Cidades. The almost one hour ride on a luxury bus gave us a chance to see the south eastern side of the island. In talking to the information bureau they informed us that we should take the bus to the village at the bottom of the caldeira and we would have to hike UP around the caldeira OR the other option would to take a taxi to the starting location from Ponta Delgada for approximately 25 euro ($31.25). We found out there was a third option. When we got to the center of the village of Sete Cidades there was a taxi sitting near the bus stop so we asked and found out that for 10 euro ($12.50) he could drive us up to the start of the trail at the top (over 800meters or 2600ft.) of the ridge. There are 2 hikes near this location, 1 goes around the north side of the
Can you guess which side is north?
You start the hike off going through this forest of trees caldeira and the other around the south. The taxi driver told us that hike #4 was the most beautiful so we took his advice (always heed local advice). Driving to the start of the trail we ended up in the clouds. We had to laugh this was to be the best views possible, but with the weather we weren’t going to see anything. We started out and found that the trail quickly proceeded up quite steeply. The wind picked up and started howling through the trees, very quickly it became cold and wet but we had to continue to be back at the village to pick up the bus for the return trip. Luckily we had come prepared. We passed areas that were obviously being forested, select cutting with well-planned reforestation. Fortunately for us the weather cleared and we got many wonderful views of the lakes below. This caldeira holds 2 lakes, Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde. As the names imply one appears to be green and the other blue. The trail was actually a dirt road that cars did travel on. Bob at times questioned why we were walking, but we were getting the better views because we could
A clear day?
It was beautiful and sunny down below, but not at the beginning of the hike easily stop and look over the edge any time to get a spectacular view. Fortunately for us the majority of the traffic that we saw were farmers on their tractors going to their cattle fields or transporting milk back down out of the mountains. If you are looking for a beautiful path through the virgin forest, this is not the trail you want, but if you are looking for views that are breathtaking this is the one you should try. The brochure states that one way a person should be able to hike the 11 km in approximately 3 hours. We hit the trail at 10:30AM and we made it to the end of the trail at 2:30PM going at a leisurely pace taking time for photographs and a nice picnic lunch. The bus back to Ponta Delgada was not scheduled until 4:30PM so we took the time to explore the village. We walked down the lake and found that there is a major construction project going on which includes a new street and many buildings that will be shops and restaurants. We were not happy to see this much built next to the lake, but a local man explained
he was very excited because it was going to bring more money into the community. This village is quite a tourist area already as can be seen by the numerous hotels and hostels here. It is not surprising with the beautiful landscape and numerous activities that you can do here – hiking, kayaking and swimming.
We were very fortunate the weather cleared and gave us an excellent day to explore this area of the island – we were told it was one of the most beautiful – they didn’t lie!
More time on Sao Miguel -
We thought we were going to be able to leave Sao Miguel, but the weather didn’t cooperate so spent some more time on the boat re-organizing, fixing things and one afternoon we had a pleasant outing with our friends, Christa and Pascal from Titom. We walked from the marina to the Gruta Carvao (translation is coal cave, however, it really is a lava tube and gets the name from the black color). We had a very informative tour teaching us about the various types of structures within the cave and found out that there are a few organisms that are native
Looking Up
We ooked up and were surprised to see some trees "hanging" over the edge to these lava tubes – blind ground beetles and 3 types of spiders. Currently there are also some plants, however, they are a result of the lighting that was added for the safety of tourists walking through. The cave is being used also for research on these organisms as well as bacteria found there.
Most nights we take a “stroll” thru town starting about 10PM, which is when things start to happen here. We have listened to a variety of groups at a number of venues – Dixieland, Klezmer, American pop (70’s, 80’s) and there was even a band imitating Abba. These events usually run until midnight so the usual early to bed early to rise cruiser’s life style has changed somewhat since being here.
We were very lucky to have connected with Dutch Link again while here. Fortunately for us we had a lovely dinner on their boat catching up with them as well as meeting some Portuguese friends of theirs’. Thanks Mike and Jannnette for a lovely evening once again!
It is now September 11
th and we are listening to it rain very hard outside. It has been raining on and off all day and
we are hoping that it will clear up enough so we can leave for the mainland tomorrow. If all goes as planned (never sure with sailing) we will leave tomorrow late afternoon/early evening and hopefully about 7 days later we will be in Porto (actually in Gaia), Portugal at a new marina that has opened up there.
Well, plans did change. It is now September 13th and we are still on Sao Miguel as the weather changed again and felt that it was better for us to stay put. We are sitting listening to rain again and watching the weather patterns. Now our plan is to leave here on Sunday, September 16th and head to another island, Sao Maria, rather than the mainland as it is a better angle to sail with the wind that they are predicting. This will give us a few days to explore a new island while we wait for better weather for geting to the mainland. The name of the game is "be flexible" so hopefully this new plan with work as it will an added bonus to see one more of the beautiful islands of the Azores.
Just heard that we have
We think we see cows ahead
It is lifting some so we can see a few things a new addition to the family - my nephew Ken and Jessy just had a baby boy - congratulations to them both! It will be great to see the addition when we return to the US this December for a visit home.
Best wishes always from Bob & Janice
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Margarete Couture
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Enjoyed your hike
What an amazinig hike. I enjoyed the views. The pictures capture so much of the beauty of the region.