We decided to take another road trip hitting up as many hot springs as we could, looking to see what was what and hoping for a soak along the way.
On the way we would stop at another lake.
The road out of Ponta Delgada went up, up into the clouds, winding here and there. Some cows on the road slowed us down, and we could see Ponta far below us. Still we climbed until we went over a pass and there below us was Lagoa de Fogo, the green lake in a crater.
We stopped and stared a while as the clouds covered and uncovered it, then started down the other side, past more pullouts, past groups of people randomly stopped in the road, and down past the shore of the lake.
As we drove we started into clumps of yellow or red flowers, a nice break from all the blue ones.
This is the Centro de Interpretação Ambiental da Caldeira Velha. Basically it is the interpretation center or park for the Caldeira Velha.
This is a cool spot and you should go here, but first thing in the morning or you will be shut out as we were.
You pay the €3 entrance fee (€4 if you are allowed to swim in the hot springs. You get a red wrist band for the extra euro.) and enter a tropical wonder-world. You are walking into a canyon with big trees, and red, yellow and blue flowers. Round the bend you find several small, hot tub - size pools. They are obviously man-made, and are crowded with whomever got there first: old people, kids with floaties, young couples.
The thing is they limit the number of people who can soak in the tubs, which is a good policy. So imagine a large back yard hot tub with perhaps 25 people in it, and you have the idea. Throw in a bunch of palm trees and red and yellow flowers and there you go.
Further back are some pleasing bubbling hot springs and fumaroles with the expected rotten egg smell. The crown jewel is in the very back: a selfie-crowded hot tub with a hot waterfall dumping into it.
OK then. It is crowded, it is touristy, but it is cheap and worth the look. Even if we had been there early I don’t know that I would soak there. Really, it reminds me of Costa Rica, but not as good. Look here.
We drove on to the little village of Caldeiras. It is colorful and cute, but very small and about 8 kilometers off the main road. You know what that means: not so many people here.
There is a hot spring contained in a concrete basin, some cute colored houses, a spa (about €3 to enter and use the hot pool) and again pleasing egg fumes in the air. The best part was the drive in, down a country road lined with trees and flowers.
We headed back out and down the road, around to the viewpoint of Miradouro do Pico do Ferro, for the great view over Furnas Lake and the village of Furnas.
This is the big hot spring area on the island, with several spa-hotels. I thought about staying in this area and looked at an eco-lodge, but I am glad we did not stay here. Read on…
Furnas is a little village, built to take advantage of the hot springs. There are spas and pools, and they make a huge deal about a special dish: Cozido das Caldeiras. That is meat stew cooked underground in the hot springs.
We ate lunch at the recommended place, Miroma. There was one table not reserved and we got it. I ordered the cozido of course, and Gail asked for tuna, overdone, though I could tell it pained the waiter and he tried to talk her out of it.
OK. Here is the good:
The local wines were great. Sure enough, the tender meat stew fell off the bone. It had beef, lamb, chorizo sausage, chicken, potato and "Unidentified Stuff” served with a bowl of juice. Here is a recipe for it.
Bottom line: it was fair at best and I don’t need to try it again. Make it at home and save yourself the airfare.
First stop was the natural hot springs that gave this area the fame.
The Caldeiras Vulcânicas, right in the village center, are now a park. There are some old, dried up springs, one that is boiling furiously, several steam vents and paths going around to each.
We walked down below the springs and along the river where they have made a really nice paved promenade and park with grass and trees and a big fountain. Right on the river itself is a little hot spring, walled in by concrete with a wooden gate leading to the river. It is a free “swimming” hole, and the idea is to sit in the river just outside the gate, and use the gate to regulate the temperature of the water. The spring itself is very hot, the river cold, so you should be able to mix it just right. I kind of fooled around with it, but decided to pass because the river is so shallow there.
We walked along the river park until we came to the very expensive Furnas Boutique Hotel Thermal & Spa, where they have a “hot spring water” filled pool. Well, it is just that, an indoor and outdoor pool, people in bathrobes sitting around it. They were asking €40 each to sit by the pool. I guess that is a bargain compared to the €350 rooms, but still. We looked at it and walked on.
Poça da Dona Beija was about the same.
Forget that.
But, at the Terra Nostra Garden Hotel we found out that we could use the big public hot spring lake in the park around back for a minimal fee. So we walked around the block (we stopped in at the hotel information desk first and asked how to access it) and sure enough, there is the big public park with trees, walking trails, duck ponds and a huge lake of hot brown water, neck deep. It cost us €8 each to enter the park.
There are changing rooms, showers, and of course snack and drink stands. We changed and walked up to the shore of the lake, dropped our bag over under a tree, and jumped in.
The water is brown with iron, so brown that you literally can’t see down past your shoulders. It seems gross, but the water is clean, very warm (hot where the pipes dump it in) and since the whole thing is a huge artificial concrete basin there is no slime or goo. We floated and walked around in the water for an hour or so, looking at the huge old mansion and trees over the lake. There were a lot of people, but it is so big that it wasn’t crowded at all. This was a great place to stop and swim.
When we were done we showered and changed, then walked back to the car to drive over to the Furnas Lake (Lagoa das Furnas) to see the hotsprings right on the shore of the lake. This is where they cook the famous stew, and there are paths and boardwalks around it.
All in all it was a good little road trip to see the thermal areas of the island.