753. Azores Day 15 | Faial Da Terra Hike & Nordeste

Faial Da Terra is a small town with only a few hundred people, with a really nice hiking trail. The trail is very lush and rocky with some small streams running through. We spent about 2 hours hiking there and back and reached one of the waterfalls (I think there are 3 in total?). I'd say the difficulty level is moderate; there was a lot of up and down. I was pretty exhausted by the end.

There's some interesting wildlife in there (not what you'd typically see on a hike). Here we saw a wild rooster on the right, and a cat..if you can spot it in the picture.

This reminds me - some of our neighbours seem to have roosters. We are in the city and not in a rural area..just a lot of people seem to have them here as a regular "pet". A few nights in the middle of the night they started crowing/calling (?) really loud and once one starts, the others in the area start as well. They don't even do it at the crack of dawn. The past few times seemed to be like 3am. It is pretty annoying but I find the sound kind of funny. I think there's something wrong with our surrounding roosters..like they don't know they should be doing it at dawn. Or is that just like a stereotype and it's normal for roosters to just crow whenever?


Finally reached the waterfall!


After Faial da Terra we went to Nordeste which is the eastern tip of the island. From there we came back to Ponta Delgada along the North coast. The scenery was very beautiful along the way (as it is all around the island!). There's a lot of small towns scattered throughout. They more or less look the same but each has their own unique charm.



FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN'

750. Azores Day 10 | Sete Cidades, (Abandoned) Monte Palace Hotel

Yesterday we visited Sete Cidades again and successfully reached the top and best lookout point - Miradouro de Candelária! This is perhaps the most popular and iconic view of the Azores Islands (if you search Azores in Google images, you will mostly see photos of Sete Cidades). The lakes are within craters of dormant volcanoes. One is blue and one is green. There's also a smaller one to the left as you can see here:



To reach the lookout point, you go along this trail:



On the way up to the lookout point, there is an abandoned hotel - Monte Palace Hotel. It was constructed in 1989 and closed a year and a half later due to lack of business. It's not surprising, considering the location (it's pretty remote and there's no stores or restaurants around). The major draw would be the spectacular views. It was also quite large with 88 rooms, restaurants, hair salon, night club, etc inside. I guess they wanted it to be like a resort. It was meant to be one of the top luxury hotels of Portugal. However Azores was quite an unknown travel destination in the past (even if it opened now, I doubt it would have much success) and leisure travel in general was not so popular. So the owners had declared bankruptcy and now, the hotel structure remains for visitors to explore.

Actually there is a sign that says something like "DANGER! DO NOT ENTER" but that didn't stop us (and lots of other people). There is a locked gate at the entrance so we had to climb up over a ledge on the side to reach it.

I love abandoned places and had always wanted to explore one so I was really excited. I wish they kept furniture and decor inside though..it would've been a lot more creepy. We went during the day so I didn't feel it was creepy at all. I also think if the hotel had a long history, then it would feel creepier as well. I wish I could see photos of it back then and compare to now though.


It's covered in graffiti



We made our way up to the rooftop to see this view



Before heading back to the city, we went down to the lake where this duck/turkey looking thing came over to say hi.

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN'

749. Azores Day 8 | Caldeira Velha & Lagoa do Fogo

Yesterday we visited a place called Caldeira Velha, a bit less than half an hour away from Ponta Delgada. I really loved it there as the scenery was beautiful, and you are immersed in nature. I just wish there were longer trails to walk around as we completed the whole place in less than half an hour (if you don't stop to take photos at every point, you can walk from entrance to the end in maybe 20 minutes). I think most people come to go in the hot spring/thermal pools though. At the moment they are closed due to COVID.

The thermal pools are about 34 degrees. This part (that you cannot go in) is about 100 degrees.


On the way back, the taxi driver took the scenic route so we saw Lago do Fogo


The island is full of hydrangeas. You can also spot some cows in the distance.

Back at Ponta Delgada. We walked by this enormous tree..so large it needs a lot of support beams.

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN'