AZORES  - DAY FOURTEEN - São Miguel North West

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

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Today we headed off to Porta Delgada to change some US dollars to Euros then stopped by a Sporting Goods store before heading out to do the caldera lakes in the North West coast.

There's a reason why we went to a clothing store...

We forgot to pack in swim suits for the hot springs! What a deal! We picked up BOTH swim suits for less than $11 US Dollars!!!  All the travel blogs tell you to pack in an old crappy suit because the hot springs are iron rich, which will stain your suit.  Wendy is a member of an Azores Travel Group and posted the question where to get cheap suits.  Everyone directed her to Decathlon Sporting Goods and they weren't wrong! Good luck trying to beat that Dick's Sporting Goods!

We did see the coolest self checkout at this store. You just drop the item in a bin at the self checkout and it automatically reads the price! No bar code scan handle or screen. It apparently works with a RFID, a Radio Frequency ID tag in the clothing item.  Let me tell you, it's QUICK!  Way quicker than the cashier at Aldi!  These RFID systems are lightening fast!!

Once we got out of the city first stop was to see an ancient aqueduct, built in 1530 in order to supply the city with fresh water from the lakes and springs from the mountains.

Then it was time to view the caldera lakes! This lake is situated in a massive volcanic crater (caldera) that was filled with water.

There is a large abandoned hotel at the lake overlook. Built in the 1980s it was supposed to be the ultimate lap of luxury. However, they misjudged the investment. This is very remote with relatively long drives to the nearest towns AND the mountain gets a whopping 200 days a year of rain and cloud when the lakes can't be seen. The hotel went bankrupt only 18 months after it was opened and has been empty ever since.

There is also a bar and snack shop there that is still open.

The one lake is known as the Blue Lake and the other is the Green Lake.

The Blue Lake vs the Green Lake - not immediately obvious from the high outlook because of sky reflection, but the difference can be clearly seen once you get down to their level. They are separated by a small bridge on a causeway. It's all about the algae in the green lake.

If you scroll back up to the panoramic shot, the causeway between the two lakes is where this was shot.

Coming down the mountain was very pretty down to the coast where we drove along the first half of the northern tip.

Way down below is the town called Mosteiros, which translated is NOT Mysterious, but instead is translated to Monasteries. It has some rocks offshore that used to be an island but got eroded away by the ocean.

We stopped in a town called Bretanha where we had a hamburger and beers at Eh Pa Food (translates to Hey Papa, give me food).  Not a bad burger for a Portuguese bar! The homemade fries were fantastic!

We found a quaint church, another windmill and one of those mini churches they use for religious festivals.  Overall, a nice day exploring the island. 

And finally...

In case you are wondering, the exclamation mark sign means "Shitty Road".

I shudder to think what TWO exclamation mark signs mean!!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow - we're headed to Furnas!!  This should be steamy!