Furnas, Sao Miguel, Azores
We took a round about way to get to Furnas. We left England and flew to Portugal to drop off 2 pieces of luggage at our house in Lagos. Then we took the train to Lisbon and then flew to Sao Miguel.
Our plan was to meet up with Joe and Renee who were on a tour staying in Furnas . We had two days where our visit and theirs overlapped.
Renee and joe were not going to be available until 3:00 pm so we decided to visit the Parque Terra Nostra to walk the park and see the natural hot springs.
The park is truly beautiful and has the volcanic streams and ponds sprinkled throughout. Enjoyed our mid day visit walking the grounds until we got hungry .
We had lunch a small cafe and pub around the corner from the Park and our apartment. We chose the restaurant because we were welcomed by a cat. The cat and Mary Kay became fast friends so we went there a couple of times during our stay. She also met a cat in the Terra Nostra Park.
We met up with Renee and Joe at 3:00 at their hotel which was situated on the grounds of the Parque Terra Nostra. We decided to enjoy the hot baths in the large pond that is fed by the water heated by the Volcanic activity of the Island. The water was warm and perfect as we spent the next couple of hours relaxing and talking in the water .
Because they were staying in the Hotel Terra Nostra we were able to stay in the hot springs after closing of the park. It is a nice amenity because it thinned out the crowd of people who normally come during the open park hours. We were the last to leave . We had an enjoyable dinner with them and then they joined us back at our apartment that was conveniently located around the corner from their hotel.
The next day Joe went on the day hike with the tour and Renee joined Mary Kay and I to walk around and see the village of Furnas and poke around the local shops.
We were parched from walking around the town and shops so we stopped and had a beer near a little parklet square before going back to the hotel to meet up with Joe for lunch.
The next day we were on our own and we wanted to explore more about the volcanic sites of the Island and the Geothermal steam holes Caldeiras .
Walking back to our apartment by the bus station there is an unusual building of an upside down house. I tried to put it right-side-up but was unsuccessful
