This is the second part of my report on exploring the largest island of the Azores with a scooter in one day. While Part 1 more introduced the whole trip and the West of the island, this part will rather focus on the east.
Sao Miguel on Two Wheels – The Route (Part 2)
I decided for an 8-alike route thorugh the island, which finally covered a distance of some 400 kilometres within eleven hours, breaks included:
Sao Miguel on Two Wheels – Highlights of the Tour
These are the sub-sections of the second part of the roadtrip:
Towards the Steam – along the Southern Coast to Furnas
After a short drive on the ring road, which is an expressway in this area, I exited at Agua de Pau mainly in order to visit the Ponta de Galera viewpoint of the lagoon around. I had a quite nice drive through the villages at the coast there, Ribeira Cha, Agua De Alto and Villa Franca de Campo, where I visited the uphill beautiful landmark church, Ermida de Nossa Senhora da Paz.
Time comitting, I unfortunately had to take less stops from now. Thus, there are just come pictures of Furnas, where I just did some of the geothermal viewpoints by driving around without taking pictures – this place definitely deserves a longer stop.
East Coast and back to Ponta Delgada
In order to complete the original route, I from now on stayed more or less on the ring road completely. The village of Povocao added some fifteen minutes on the clock as the center was closed due to the Corpus Christi celebrations that day and I had to take a detour through the mountains. The route has been very scenic with some very nice miradouros along the road. One stop I definitely wanted to do was visiting the Farol de Ponta do Arnel lighttower at Pedreira – but unfortunately, the access road was closed due to construction work. The time was flying by, so that I stayed on the ring road, even after it became an expressway again after I passed Nordeste. The most interesting stops I took on route thereafter have been the only European Union tea plantations at Sao Bras and the beautiful Maradouro de Santa Iria viewpoint. Near Ribiera Grande, I took the direct route across the island to Lagoa, which again has expressway character, and drove along the cost to Ponta Delgada.
And what about the Capital? Ponta Delgada
I took a walk from my hotel through the capital’s center on the next day, right before I flew home to Germany. However, my physical abilities have been limited due to the impact of the accident I had. The center is quite compact, but looks quite beautiful. The harbourfront has a lot of restaurants and kiosks offering touristic activities. The inner city looks very beautiful has well.
Sao Miguel on Two Wheels – Sumup
Yes, I slipped, lost some money and somehow also hurt myself. There is only one thing about this trip I still struggle about: I have no idea what I did wrong before my accidient. Not very fast, did not feel like gravel or so… Despite that, I would do that trip again definitely. Don’t be so mad and do it as a one-day trip, better split it into two or three parts and take more time for museums, cafes, strolling through cities and taking a bath (maybe not in Caldeira Velha…) and to get better used to the scooter. The new expressway dows make it very convenient to reach all areas of the island (maybe apart from the Northwest). Driving there is not too fun, also because of the wind, but you can use it depending on your time. Smelling the air, feeling the wind (if not coming from the side…), finding an easy parking slot for your vehicle – it has been just an excellent choice.
Part 1 of the Trip Report may be found here.
Sao Miguel on Two Wheels – Picture Gallery