Gruta das Torres

The wind roared all night. You just can’t predict the weather on this island. One minute the sun is shining, a few minutes later the fog rolls in, then it rains, then it is cold, then hot. What a place! The weather changes very quickly and it’s good to be prepared for anything.

We were somewhat worried about our ferry ride back to Horta to catch our plane on Monday afternoon. With the unpredictable weather, we were afraid that the ferry would be cancelled and we may miss our plane. Remember there is a ferry workers strike so the ferry only runs twice a day. We were also concerned about room the ferry for the car. Only 10 cars have spots. We decided to take the ferry back on Sunday morning after consulting with several people in the know and spend the night in a hotel in Horta. We bought our tickets immediately. Whew, there was still room for the car.

Now that that was taken care of, we could enjoy ourselves with a tour of another long lava tube.

The Gruta das Torres Visitors Centre is a 10 minute drive from Joe’s Place and luckily for us an English tour explaining the formation and characteristics of a lava tube was going to start at 11 a.m.

The Gruta das Torres is the largest lava tube in Portugal, with a length of 5150 metres, and it is part of a bigger complex. It is estimated that it was formed about 1500 years ago during an eruption of the volcano in Cabeço Bravo.

We were given helmets and flashlights and watched a short film showing how the Azores Islands formed before heading down into the tube.

Our visit took about 1 1/2 hours and cost five euros each. The guide did a great job of explaining all that we saw and suggesting easy ways to negotiate getting around the slippery rubble and giant lava rocks, without getting hurt. There are no artificial lights down there, just our flashlights. The cave walk was about 450 metres long.

At one point we all turned off our flashlights and stood silently in a cave. We couldn’t see a thing as there wasn’t any light at all and we couldn’t hear anything either. (maybe some ringing in our ears) but the dripping water from the top of the cave falling on us became quite noticeable.

The guide did an excellent job and we had fun.

Joe, our BnB host told us that in Pico you have to ‘Chase the Sun’ as you travel so that’s what we did. Stay one step in front of the dark fog clouds. Good advice!

From the caves, we took a lava road through the island to the coast. We saw lots of twisty trees and volcanic rocks as well as cattle and goats. We looked for houses but didn’t see any. The land is way too rugged.

Our goal was to have a late lunch at a recommended restaurant called Fonte in Lajes so we went down this coast admiring the huge waves as they crashed on the giant lava rocks. We could sit and do this for hours!

The lunch special was delicious and inexpensive - soup to start, and then a plate with fish, boiled potatoes and a green salad followed by a chocolate mousse with peanuts on top. A very full glass of Azorean wine and a beer were included, all for about $15 Cdn each. What a deal. We have not been in restaurant that serves vegetables. Who knows why as they grow all sorts of vegetables here. It’s always meat or fish, French fries and a salad -the closest thing to a vegetable serving. Not sure what vegetarians eat here…

Heading back to Joe’s, we took the road that passed by the volcano with hopes of seeing it without the clouds. Not the greatest luck, but Chris did manage to get a photo in the 2 seconds that the clouds separated a bit. He was lucky,

The day started out very windy, rainy and foggy and ended up being a glorious sunny day. Another great day in Pico. One more to go.Read more