Land ahoy! We arrive outside of Horta at the appointed time, but have to sit through the tendering process, which unfortunately means the tours go off first and we go off after they are through. Oh well – this is the only tender port and we’re up, awake, gymed and fed – so we’ve got nothing better to do than to sit and wait.
We’re a good ways out into the harbor so the tender ride is pretty long, but not choppy at all, so all was well for moi! It is an incredibly beautiful day – low 70’s, sunny with patchy clouds every once in a while. The perfect day to explore this little island.
Horta is gorgeous from the ship – the little town nestled in the between the mountains and the sea. The parts of the island we can see from the ship are verdant green, terraced pastures and that gorgeous white, black and red tile architecture.
Once on shore, we manage to find the rental car place, grab our little VW Golf, and head out to the western side of the island where there are gorgeous vistas, small little holiday towns perched on the side of steep hills and black lava pools and rock ledges from which to fish and sunbathe (although not today with the sun – it’s a might too chilly!).
We follow the main road around toward Vulcao dos Capelinhos, the area most affected by the volcanic eruption of 1957/58 – 13 months of constant eruption. It totally changed the landscape here from verdant and lush to dry and arid. 300 houses were completely destroyed, either buried under the lava or severely damaged. The lighthouse on the point was completely ruined, it’s ground floor is totally submerged in volcanic sand and ash. The eruption added 2.4 square kilometers of land which you can see from the lighthouse – since it used to be on the absolute end of the land, it’s now way more inland than it used to be.
After the light house we head off around the island toward the beaches of Faja. The road (the main road) is little more than a 1 1/2 lane rutted affair that jars our fillings out of our head! And turning off down the long steep winding road to Faja is little better. But the scenery at the bottom is worth it – a gorgeous black sand beach with huge crashing waves nestled at the bottom of huge volcanic cliffs. It’s just gorgeous here.
Reversing our steps, the road gets smaller and more rural – if that’s even possible! We stop at a picnic area (with a grill how cool!) to eat an orange and just revel in the beauty of this area of the island.
After our little snack break, we head off road again (ha! it’s all off road basically!) and start climbing up through the center of the island through pastureland dotted with cows, cows and more cows! We stop at a view point over looking the town of Cedros.
Now it’s onto the Caldeira – the highest point of the island. We fortunately get there right before the bus of cruise passengers and manage to get through the moss covered tunnel to view the Caldeira virtually alone. It’s a fantastic sight – rich green, trees and lakes, just beautiful.
More later……posting this now while we have free internet – so stay tuned for the rest of our day in Horta and our day in Ponta Delgada.
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