Azores hiking at last! After a healthy dose of hiking in Madeira we’ve been longing for the Azorean mountains. What a difference São Miguel is in so many ways. The roads winding around and over the mountains are precarious and steep but.. less so than Madeira. The Azorean roads are wider, less steep, and while looking out can be mind-blowing, you feel a lot less likely to plummet down some thousand foot cliff. LESS.. but it’s still a distinct possibility if you aren’t focused.

So anyway.. we went hiking today to Salto do Prego, a waterfall in the southeastern mountains.

Most of the trail dives deeper and deeper up into the gushing ravine home of the waterfalls. Every once in a while thoughwe’d turn a corner and look out on the surrounding hills and mountains.

At last we turn a corner and Salto do Prego!

The depth through layers of forest made the approach particularly beautiful.

We didn’t swim this time, but despite the throngs of other hikers it was still meditative.

We decided to stop at a mountaintop viewpoint on the way back to Furnas. This is Miradouro do Pico dos Bodes. It has that top-of-the-world feel, and the edges of the top drop off gently as fields bursting with life.

Back in Furnas, we were stymied by multiple road closures. Turns out there was a ceremony (a funeral we think) that closed several downtown streets, including every possible way to get to our rental apartment for a few hours. Fortunately it’s a small town so we parked on the edge of the closed area and walked. As we started to walk away we realized that we had parked in front of a unique building that was on our hit list already, Casa Invertida. In addition to being a popular tourist landmark, it’s apparently a functioning business,

We saw some of the celebration preparations as well.

After a quick break, we headed out to Poça da Dona Beija, a nearby geothermal spring. They charge you €8 for 90 min in their four springs, but that’s a long time at 39˚C (102˚F) with dozens of people. The water color comes from iron and many people had it painted on their skin. Reminds me of the Red Dirt shirts in Hawaii.

After a long, hot soak we went to dinner at ESPINHA.COME Restaurant. It’s a casual, local fare sort of place, and.. was just what we were looking for. The salad was fresh, the rice was tasty, the chicken was grilled with char and good herbs, and the fish was delicate and flavorful. The honey tart was a bonus treat I’m happy to say!