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The island of Sao Miguel
pertaining to Portugal and the main island of the nine that the Azores are made up of, has an elongated aspect with a very abrupt terrain
and an ashen colour due to the volcanic activity that it has experienced.
So even though you have a car hire and do not have to depend on public
transport to travel around the island, driving is very slow and time
consuming, so relax and enjoy the landscape of the island of Sao Miguel.
Ponta Delgada is the capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores,
home of the University of the Azores, where the airport is located
and having an array of nice comfy hotels. It is located at the end
of an open bay but separated from the ocean by a long strip of land
and the port. All the city is made up of porous volcanic stone; the
buildings, homes and streets. There is a pretty church, remarkably
decorated with an impressive wooden triumphal arch and a complicated
network of beams in the ceiling. The Carlos Machado Museum found
in the Convent of Saint Andrew has a nice collection of paintings,
sculptures and an ethnological and zoological section.
A privileged contact with nature
From Ponta Delgada towards the airport, which has its runways on
platforms because of the lack of even land, you head for Sete Cidades,
a solid rock formation, taking in the view of beautiful blue hydrangeas
in bloom almost all year round. After passing Relva, you travel through
winding roads, carpeted hillsides with water trickling everywhere
passing different lookout points until you come to what heaven could
be like. Set before your eyes is an immense double crater holding
two lagoons, only separated by a small piece of land and a bridge.
The colour green here is dark, with a prevailing silence wrapped
up in the clouds, isolating it even more from the rest of the earth,
from the rest of Sao Miguel. The town of Sete Cidades has remained
true to its origins with individual stone houses, slate roofs just
one storey high. Many have granaries or barns raised on pillars because
of the seismic movements caused by the volcanoes.
Ribeira Grande, which means big river, is called so because it is
a town situated on a ravine where a plentiful river passes through.
Furnas is an old public bathing resort with water thermal waters,
just for relaxing. And then you can venture to another of the islands
in the Azores called Terceira. It has been able to keep its urban
aspects from the 15th and 16th century representing a close architectural
appearance to that of colonial Brazil.
Whether you stay on the island of Sao Miguel or find time to visit
Terceira, do not forget to take back home some souvenirs such as
beautiful embroidered lace or real life porcelain dolls, some of
the typical hand-made crafts of the Azores in Portugal and specifically
of Sao Miguel.
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