AZORES  - DAY FIFTEEN - São Miguel Furnas

Blogs: Day 1 - Getting There | Day 2 - Central | Day 3 East | Day 4 West | Day 5 Last Day | Day 6 To Pico | Day 7 Madalena | Day 8 Pico Mountain | Day 9 Pico to Faial | Day 10 Pico East | Day 11 Pico North | Day 12 To São Miguel | Day 13 São Miguel North East | Day 14 São Miguel North West | Day 15 São Miguel Furnas | Day 16 São Miguel Pineapples | Day 17 São Miguel Baths | Day 18 São Miguel Filling the Gaps | Day 19 São Miguel ABF

Click on pictures for larger version

Today we headed to Furnas to see volcano activity!! Furnas is Portuguese for "caves", in this case it means crevices to the volcano!

This is Furnas nestled in a valley right next to a lake, which of course, was once a volcano!

First stop right next to the lake was a beautiful old church. It was never a chapel in the traditional sense. It was built by a guy as a memorial to his dead wife. Later, upon his death, he was buried inside, next to her. While alive, the husband apparently did get the Catholic church to consecrate the building as a church/chapel although it's more of a mausoleum.

In the same park there are several wooden statues that have been carved out of a tree with roots still in the ground. Here's a cool looking druid.

But, of course the main event and the primary reason we came to this area was the volcano fissures!

This is where chefs from local restaurants come to cook their Alcatra Stew.  Although here, it is called Cozida, which means "boiled" because it is cooked above boiling water in a volcano fissure.

This is where it is cooked. Once the pot is lowered into the hole a lid is put on and it is covered in sand to seal it.

Below is a 20 second video of the boiling hot water in the fissures and pot holes.

Next it was time for lunch. We went to Tony's, which is probably the most famous restaurant in Furnas. Wendy had a giant steak (which I'll be eating her leftovers for dinner tonight!) and I had Bacalhau which is cod fish and an absolute staple in Portugal. It is said that there are 1001 different ways it can be cooked. 

We were hoping for the fish Cozida, but they didn't have any.  The reason we didn't order the Carne (meat) Cozida is because the Alcatra we had in Terceira was soooooo laden with fat, it kind of set our tummies.....upset.  We figured the Cozida would be similar because it's cooked in the same way and didn't want to spend...the...entire ...night.....well, you know.  

Sometimes taking one for the team isn't worth it.

After lunch, the reason we bought the bathing suits yesterday was our plan after Tony's was to go to a Thermal Pool only 5 minutes away.  Guess what!?  Everyone else in town had the same thought! It is Sunday afterall.

We decided to visit another week day when there are less crowds and we get a pool to ourselves instead of sharing with a gazillion other tourists. (Oh wait!  We resemble that tourist remark!!)

On the way back home we saw another lighthouse.  This time no scary drive to get to it, and also one of the very few beaches in the Azores.  It's a black sand beach because of all the lava rock.

You see some strange things walking around, like a cock on his own crowing in the middle of nowhere. There are cats everywhere. Some are wild and have a clipped ear indicating they were fixed. Others are owned by people.  We were told there really aren't any indoor cats in the Azores.  Everyone just lets them roam free. Dogs too, you will see a dog casually strolling down a road with no owner in sight.

And finally...

Believe it or not, Wendy parallel parked our Kia rental car first time in one move, with a manual transmission, UP HILL with an audience of cars waiting to pass by.

There goes the theory that women cannot parallel park!!!  Wendy's Comment - Screw You!