Biscoitos

For our second day in Terceira we decided to visit the western part of the island. We were planning to start with the caves, but then we realized they are closed on Thursdays. Oh well. We thought we'd be able to do it some other day. After all, the island is tiny.

We took a nice walk to the car rental place. The streets in Angra do Heroísmo are so cute! Founded in the XV century, this is the Azores’ oldest city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. An interesting fact is that around 70% of Angra’s houses were destroyed in an earthquake in 1980. Terceira was rebuilt following the original heritage, and that's what got it the UNESCO title. The buildings are colorful and charming.

After getting our rental car (which took a while, for a number of reasons) we headed to Furnas do Enxofre. After having visited Furnas, in the São Miguel Island, this sulfur field felt less spectacular, but still amazing with its steamy fumaroles.

From there we drove to the Quatro Ribeiras Beach. The Azores have these wonderful natural pools where the ocean water meets the volcanic rocks, with some artificial accces and stairs. I loved it. We were here off season so the place was quite empty and the facilities that would be usually open during the season were now closed, but my understanding is that it can get quite crowded during the summer. I'd love to come here when is warm though.

We went to a restaurant called Caneta to have lunch. I wanted to try the traditional dish, alcatra, a slow-cooked beef pot on a rich thick sauce. It was very good!

We kept driving around Biscoitos and stopped at the Biscoitos natural pools, similar to the Quatro Ribeiras place, and then at the Pico Matias Simaõ. This is a viewpoint in top of a volcanic elevation, accessed by a long set of stairs. On the top you can see a cross that looks like a church from the bottom but it's actually a monumental structure with three walls. The views from here are nice.

We were close to sunset so we kept driving all the way to the West, to the Ponta do Queimado viewpoint, to see the Graciosa island from there. We were quite impressed by the several fishermen who were there catching tons of fish.

From there we just drove back to the hotel to rest a bit and go for dinner at Birou Bar. It was good, but I wasn't very hungry after the alcatra we had had for lunch.Read more