São Miguel Island, January 2025

It's just unbelievable the last time I was here was twenty five years ago! When I started my L-1011 website which went online in the year of 2000, I included a gallery of my high school trip to São Miguel. That was the last time I was in São Miguel! It seems like it was yesterday.

I'm a volcano geek and Azores have a special place in my heart since I first visited São Miguel Island in 1990. I needed to fully explore this island again, even though I didn't visit any new place this time.

Of course a car was needed and the chosen rent-a-car was Azores Easy Rent. And like they have it in their name, everything ran easy and smooth with them. They even share a Google Maps' list with spots of interest in the island.

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Sete Cidades

If you're visiting São Miguel for the first time, this is the place you really can't miss.

Lagoa de Santiago

In Sete Cidades village, it was time for a short stop and drink some tea with a delicious queijada at tea house "O Poejo".

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Mosteiros

After Sete Cidades, our next stop was Miradouro Pico de Mafra to get a view of Mosteiros village.

Lagoa do Fogo was our next destination. Unfortunately the weather on this other side of the island was pretty much foggy, windy and rainy which didn't help taking good photos.

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Lagoa do Fogo

Even though Lagoa das Sete Cidades is the main postcard of São Miguel, this one is my favorite lagoon with a more wild look. I remember going down there the last time I visited it in 2000.

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Chá Gorreana

Gorreana is the oldest tea plantation in Europe. Also a must for visitors and especially for tea lovers. We went there to buy some local tea.

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Lagoa das Furnas

Going to Lagoa das Furnas and see/smell its famous fumarolas was the part of trip I was more anxious about. As I said, I love everything about volcanoes and secondary manifestations of volcanism. Seeing the boiling water heated by the interior of the planet and the smell of sulfur makes me wonder if I wasted an opportunity of a career as a volcanologist. Fumarolas don't make the best photos, I was truly excited trying to capture this phenomena.

Lagoa das Furnas

Non azorean residents pay a fee of 3 EUR to visit Parque Grená.

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Ribeira dos Caldeirões

This is one of my favorite spots in the island. The natural park of Ribeira dos Caldeirões and its beautiful waterfall is a place where you can feel peace and full communion with nature.

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Vila Franca do Campo

Miradouro da Nossa Senhora da Paz and its Ermida was the last sightseeing spot of this tour around the island. From there we have a nice of Vila Franca do Campo which I had the opportunity to explore the last time I was here.

Before returning our car and going back to the hotel, time for some limpets in Cais 20 restaurant. And how yummy they were!

I love the Azores it's all I can say!