Day 191: North Terceira Island

Today we would explore the north island side. Began with a hike down to the Miradoura de Alagoa where you can see different layers of lava spill over the cliff-sides for years and form basalt lava columns. The water was beautifully blue and great to hear the sound of crashing waves.

Next we attempted to drive around the west side, but recent seismic unrest closed the roads and viewing points. Instead we cut through the middle to check out Ponta do Queimado (more lava and cliffs). Grabbed a delicious buffet lunch at Por Do Sol which offered incredibly cooked octopus and squid.

After lunch, drove up switch backs to the crater of volcano Santa Bárbara which is the only volcanic system on the island that is dormant (not extinct). Geologists have been tracking ground deformation on the volcano and it’s where they had a 4.5 magnitude earthquake in January so they expect the volcanic eruption would emerge from Santa Bárbara. On the caldera is a silica peat bog as well as radars that workers were actively fixing.

Our final stop for the day was another natural beach pool. Kieran wasn’t feeling good so we didn’t go swimming, but spent our remaining euros on sangria and local clam like seafood lapas.

Restaurant:
Por Do Sol

Food:
Octopus
Squid
Pork
Peppers
Chorizo

Spots:
Miradouro de Alagoa
Piscinas Naturais Biscoitos
Miradouro da Serra de Santa Bárbara
Miradouro da Ponta do QueimadoLæs mere