Stretching 62km long and 15km wide, Sao Miguel is the largest island in the Azores. Today, the plan is to explore the eastern part of the island with a few stops along the coast before heading inland for lunch.
Continuing east, I reached the Miradouro do Pico do Ferro, which sits at an altitude of 567m. After a short hike up from the parking lot on a paved path, the scenery opened up and in front of us was the Lagoa das Furnas. The lake sits at around 280m above sea level.
The Furnas area is famous for its thermal pools that are fuelled by active underground volcanoes. The caldeira at the top stretches 8 km x 5.6 km and is now an important diverse natural landscape.
Heading back downhill, after paying a small charge to park, I walked out to the lake to look for the cooking holes powered by volcanic steam. This is where cozido is made, a traditional stew of meat and vegetables cooked underground for special events. Chefs first place the different cuts of meat and vegetables into a pot very early in the morning, then place it into a 1m-deep hole to cook at around 100C for 6-8 hours.
There is a fence to keep visitors out and prevent them from getting burned from the steam. As the lunch hour approached, restaurant workers arrived to haul their pots out.
I then tried it out at the Terra Nostra Garden Hotel. After the initial huge plate, staff returned asking if I wanted more. It seems to be all you can eat!
Behind it is the Parque Terra Nostra to walk off that heavy meal. The botanical gardens display some 1800 species of plants and also has a large outdoor thermal pool where you can take a soak in its iron-rich waters. The current pool dates from the 1930s when the original was restored and expanded into what we see today.
