I thought Moinho was the bomb…
This may be better.
We spotted the village of Mosteiros by mistake, from up on the side of a cliff above the coast on the day we visited the volcanoes and the ocean side hot spring. It looked like an interesting, cute village from far off, and when I Google-mapped it I noticed the beach. So it seemed like a good place for our last road trip on São Miguel.
It is about 45 minutes out of Ponta Delgada, mostly because the roads are very curvy. In fact, when this day was over and I refilled the car to turn it in, we used less than a half tank of gas (about €30 worth) for the week.
We drove the switchbacks down to Mosteiros and since it was early morning we parked right next to the fine black sand beach. This is a short beach with cliffs at each end, but the sand is so fine and so perfect black, with giant sea rocks sticking up offshore.
I think it is my favorite beach here on São Miguel.
If we returned, we would stay here because of it.
We decided to walk into the village to look around and see if there were any places to eat.
The houses are nice, some cute and colorful, others the typical low white Portuguese box, and some are really nice modern places with astounding ocean views.
In fact we found a few old places for sale (how expensive we wonder?) and one really nice place, move in condition, right across from the second pebbly beach.
Now that would be a great place to retire…
We even found one place with a view to die for, abandoned on the cliff, and we walked in and thought about the restoration price. Then there was the place over by the row of nicely tended, colorful houses...and then the other place.
We found and passed a place to eat, looking for more, but in the end we looped back around to it, and it turned out to be my lucky day.
The “loop” street hugs the cliff tops, waves crashing on the black lava rocks. There are covered picnic tables with rock grills, ready for a family BBQ of fresh fish. It turns out that the Portuguese Government gives each village and city a certain amount of money to spend as they see fit. Well they spent smart here; all the places were in use, and it was something that would attract me to return.
There is a “swimming pool” in the rocks here; a kind of natural pool of water protected by rocks all around, Still, the waves swept in pretty good on this calm day, and I think you would really get banged up if it was a rough ocean at all. There are flat, black rocks to lie on, and a ladder in and out of the pool.
Further along, by a restored windmill tower (turned into a residence) is the second, pebbly beach. There are lifeguards, changing rooms, showers and WC here as well, all free of charge. This is where the really great house was for sale.
It is a great system for us tourists.
There is an old, unrestored windmill, the usual church, and colorful houses by the harbor. The harbor has a community winch to haul in the fishing boats.
Well, this is a very small village, and the only real restaurant we saw was the Restaurante Brisa do Mar. So we walked back there, and they had the single thing I had been looking for all week: Cracas. The barnacles.
That made this the perfect last day in the Aores. You can read more about the cracas under the “FOOD” section of the Ponta Delgada post.
Combine the raw beauty of this coast with the fresh seafood, mix in the sun and cuteness of the village, and serve it up with the fine black sand beach and it was a perfect place for a last day in the Açores.