Nord by Nordeste

To be honest, Nordeste (Northeastern Sao Miguel) wasn't even on my radar. I'd heard about the tea plantations, the only ones in Europe. And everyone knows about the thermal baths at Furnas. Even people who do cruise stops go to Furnas.

But the second day of my trip, a week ago (!), I met a couple on the Yellow Bus, and they showed me their photos from Nordeste. The waterfall. The hydrangeas. Now I had to get there.

As it turns out, none of the distances here amount to much. You can go all the way from Ponta Delgada to Nordeste (the town, which is part of the region) in under an hour on a fast road. But that's only if you don't stop. And the real fun is meandering.

First stop is Cha Porto Formoso, the less famous tea plantation. (Unless you count the cops on scooters who pulled me over for changing lanes in Ponta Delgada, trying to listen to Google Maps and get on the freeway. They were perplexed by my International Driving Permit and sternly told me to respect the laws of Portugal. Never drive in Ponta Delgada if you can help it.)

So I really needed a tea plantation tour. Gorreana is the more famous tea plantation, but I'd been told they machine cut the tea leaves. Plus I'd tasted their teas at breakfast and not liked them much. Tea came to the Azores in the 19th century. Chinese experts were brought in and selected pekoe (as in Lipton's orange pekoe) as well suited to the climate.

 It's a bucolic setting on the north coast.

They have a full museum of historic equipment, used for drying and weighing and sorting.

Not so modern art.

British scales

The drying tea smelled divine.

I don't know what this machine did (maybe air drying? It looks like my old dehydrator), but it has a lot of character.

After the short tour, you enjoy a complimentary cup of tea. In true tea fashion, you can stay as long as you like.

I of course wanted to taste all the teas, so I got three pots plus milk and honey and had a proper tea party. The honey was remarkable, though not for sale, and I loved the honey spoon too.

I made a quick stop at a waterfall, and then headed to the town of Nordeste, pictured at the top of this post.

 

They were preparing for a festival. But outside of Ponta Delgada, you don't see a lot of tourists.

There are noticeably more Americans here than a week ago, presumably because of July 4th weekend. If I lived near New York, I could come to the Azores for a long weekend!

 Last stop was the Terra Nostra gardens in Furnas. This was a madhouse.

 This duck speaks for me.

It may look bucolic, but everyone was lining up to go in the hideous thermal pools.

Yes, that's really the color (below). No strong sulphur smell, but your swimsuit will turn colors.

They're about 5 feet deep and pleasantly warm. There are people of all ages lounging around, hogging the stairs, the usual. Most hotels have beach towels you can bring, so you don't ruin their regular towels. The people at the fancy hotel adjacent to the gardens have gray and maroon robes, like they're at an actual spa.

 

My joints felt good after soaking, but after being on less crowded islands, I couldn't wait to get out of Furnas.

I hadn't had lunch, so I drove half hour to Caloura, on the south coast, where Antonio had recommended his favorite seafood restaurant. Antonio knows best. And there I found the perfect sea pool.

I didn't go in the water, but it was wonderful just to be there, and watch the lifeguard doing push ups on the sea stairs when he thought no one was watching.

Bar Caloura overlooks the pool and the sea, and I had the most delicious grilled barracuda, with a glass of Portuguese wine and this splendid pineapple cake for dessert. I am going to miss crisp, drinkable wine for $2.50 a glass. And 90¢ espressos, served at 9 pm.

And then it was time to be on my way back to town. I'm all packed. My flight leaves much too early in the morning. My only concern is remembering the cheese—the cheese!—in the kitchen fridge.

Thanks for coming with me to the Azores. This trip came about because of a voucher I got from Delta for giving up my seat the day after the eclipse. I'm so glad it did.

The earth's soul may always be made of fire. 

—from the film at the Capelinhos volcano and lighthouse museum

"a pineapple, for you"

Did you know a pineapple takes two years to ripen to maturity? But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First stop today was Ponta da Ferraria. As you know people swim in the Atlantic here. It's not freezing (like the Pacific) but it's not exactly warm.

But at low tide, on this volcanic island, hot water emerges from the vents on the ocean floor. And if you happen to arrive at just the right moment, during the 4 hours of low tide in the morning or evening, hot water mixes with cold water for a unique soaking experience.

Yes, it's a scene. This was the first time in a week I saw so many people in one place.

I was glad I had hiking sandals and a stick for navigating the sharp lava. Highly recommended.

This is the westernmost part of São Miguel. There's a farol (lighthouse) nearby.

 Dairy cows, working hard on that delicious Azorean cheese.

The view north to Mosteiros, a village with really narrow streets

where I had amazing prawns in garlic sauce for lunch. Everyone else was eating octopus, but I remembered Soul of an Octopus and stuck to crustaceans.

More enormous wild hydrangea lining the roads. I felt guilty taking photos while I drove, until I noticed everyone else doing the same thing.

 Next stop: Sete Cidades, or the 7 cities. These brightly colored aqua lakes lie inside a dormant volcano crater.

 They are also why I wanted to come to the Azores.

The lakes turn bright blue and green when the sun comes out. The skies were never blue, but the sun kept right on trying.

(These ducks are for my mom.)

 So many exquisite flowers.

 Aah.

At the lookout at the top of the hill lies the ruins of a luxury hotel, which closed 7 years ago. It says you can't go in, but there were people up on the roof. I took a quick look at the "lobby" and spiral staircases.

Last look at Sete Cidades. Although this is when I knew I had to come to the Azores, it doesn't even rank among the best things I've done here. You can make a day of it and hike down from the crater rim to the town at the bottom.

My final stop of the day was one of many pineapple plantations in the Azores. 

Getting there was comical. I don't have a European sim card for my phone, so I rely on wifi and offline maps. I mapped the route with Google before I left the wifi at the restaurant.

The freeway part was fast and easy, but then I got off on a series of roundabouts. Google would say unhelpful things like "make the second right" (which was a left) or "turn southeast." There's nothing like a roundabout in an unfamiliar place to make you lose your sense of direction.

Pineapples are grown in greenhouses, with their peers at similar stages of development. 

Are you hungry yet? They sell pineapple liqueur at the gift shop, and pineapple pastries at the gazebo.

They even have a private collection of pineapple-iana. Cases and cases of pineapple kitsch. I loved it. Is it any wonder Portuguese cowboys known as paniolos went to Hawaii?

Clear skies walking back to the hotel in Ponta Delgada. It's weird to be back in the "big" city again. The streets are incredibly narrow. People tailgate and honk. My hotel is on a pedestrian mall, and all the streets nearby are one way. So parking nearby is kind of a nightmare. 

The Hotel Alcides is also home to the Restaurant Alcides. And whenever I mentioned to locals like Antonio and Felipe that I was staying here, they commented on how good the steak was.

And was it ever! Along with my perfectly rare steak, served with melted butter, I had a copa de vinho tinto made by the Freitas family. The cheese course is extra, and I asked if they could wrap it up for me; my server did that and more, adding some bread and jam and more pieces of cheese.

The only thing missing from this deeply satisfying meal is the grilled pineapple, which I devoured.