Adventures in the Azores-Part III - Hot Springs and the Ocean

Hey guys! This is part III of my time in the Azores, you can check out part I and part II.

I just want to polish off the 3 part series before 2014 is over. The rest of the year looks like it'll be very busy with lots of friends coming to town so I probably won't get to do as much blogging.

The final stop in our Azores trip was to a spa by the ocean, in a place called Ferreira.  I haven't been to many spas in my life but I thought this one was special since it was right by the ocean and the pools in the spa use the natural hot spring water. The best part is that there's a hot spring right at the beach, that's accessible to anyone. The water gets really hot to ~50 C , but there's also the cold atlantic water coming in to the area. The locals really enjoy the contrast between the hot and cold and many will come in the summer.

The little red roof is where the spa is located

The waves were high and dangerous that day. The water levels were very high so it was not suitable for swimming. And the reality was, with the water so high up, it's very difficult to feel the hot spring waters contrasted with the cold ocean waves since the pool is filled with cold water.

I ended up not going into the natural pool and just got a massage at the spa instead. In general, the spa was located in a beautiful area and it was fantastic to use their facilities that had the same mineralized waters that was pumped from underground.  Here's a few shots of the views at the spa.

This ends the 3 part series on the Azores. I also did a highlight reel if you are interested.

Have a good weekend!

Memories of the Azores

This is a highlight reel of my time in the Azores, you can check out parts I-III here 

I was originally going to include this section in Part III but I felt like I needed to do it justice and not clutter up the Part III post. 

I had an amazing time during my trip to the Azores and to be honest, I didn't expect myself to like this place so much. It was a beautiful and scenic place with very warm and friendly locals and I can't wait to go back and explore the other islands and drink more milk!

Things I will miss from the Azores

1) Sunrises

I've never been an early riser but because the sun rose around 8 AM everyday, I did get to catch many beautiful sunrises without having to be up too early.

2) The Food

I think I've talked at length about how much I love their dairy. I also loved a lot of the other foods found on the island, like the fresh fish, and the salty chorizo! I liked the chorizo so much that I bought some at Loblaws to make at home.

flaming chorizo

There's a lot of ice cream cones/ popsicles that are not available in North America as well, this one had a chocolate shell with nuts and a chocolate center.

3) The Landscape

There were rolling hills and cliffs with steep drops everywhere. I loved the variation in the landscape. And of course, the hot spring and spa was amazing!

Trying not to fall off the edge

4) The Plants

There were many hydrangeas and other flowers on the island while I was there. I kind of wish I can go back in the summer time just to see everything blooming.

The endemic moss that's in a heart shape S2

5) The Pineapples!

There were pineapples everywhere that were super fresh! I wish it was like that in North America. But, its probably a good thing since their juice is basically a meat tenderizer and my tongue got really numb from eating all that pineapple on the trip.

I hope you've enjoyed my series on the Azores, I know I did :)

Have a good weekend!

Adventures in the Azores-Part II - Sunshine & Pineapples

This is part II of my time in the Azores, you can check out part I here.

Another day, another sunrise. It's really really nice to get to see the sun rise up over the mountain and the ocean. This place is perfect :).

Ah~~~~~

We decided to do another tour to check out the other side of the island. The first stop of the day is Lagoa do Fogo , one of the craters on the island. The fresh waters are a clear, crystal blue and you can go canoeing in the lake. This was also one of the first days where the sun is finally shining through the clouds.

You can see for miles and miles across the island from this point.

Here's another view of the lake from further down, sorry for the warped angle, it was an odd place to take a picture.

Such pretty waters~~~

Our next stop of the day was at Caldeira Velha, where you can take a dip in the thermal pools.

This is where the water comes out, too hot to bathe in though.

You can see people taking a nice dip in the pool, seems like fun.

Our next stop was another waterfall. Really really quiet and serene. :)

Our tour guide Jose showed us a local moss that captures some of the misty water.

It's super spongy too!!

We then stopped off at Sete Cidades,  a village at the bottom of another volcanic crater, Do you notice how the two lakes are a different colour? The one closer to us is a more green colour, reflecting the green nearby while the further away one is a blue-ish hue,  a reflection of the sky. A guide said that the local legend tells the tale of a princess and her lover, a young shepherd, who  had to part from each other. The tears they shed at their farewell became the two lakes, with the water coloured like their eyes. As an engineer, and also a girly-girl at heart, I'm not sure which version of the explanation I prefer more... 

Love, love, love

As we drive down the hills, you can see how different the landscape can be around the island. You can have steep cliffs with the rolling farm hills all over the island.

Pineapple Plantation

One of the things the Azores is famous for is growing pineapples,. This was also one of the reasons why I decided to visit the islands in the first place, because I love pineapples so much! According to the local guide, they can half the growth time for pineapples here because they are grown in green houses.

We got to see pineapples throughout their growth stages. They start out as little bushes.

You then get a flower on the plant which eventually becomes the pineapple fruit.

Such a pretty flower!

Here's a baby pineapple...

So cute!

They smoke the plant after it flowers with CO2 to make it think it's in danger so that the fruit is produced faster.

After about 1.5 years of growing, you get this beautiful, delicious, pineapple! Notice how the top stem is much shorter than the pineapples we get at home?

Overall, this was an amazing day to see the island in the sun. The weather was still unpredictable but it was just so awesome to be able to see the pineapples growing! I hope you have enjoyed part II of my adventures. Stayed tune next week for part III and have a great week!

Adventures in the Azores-Part I

So for the week of Thanksgiving, I decided to take the week off and visit somewhere different, the Azores! If you've never heard of the Azores, try to think of them as the Hawaii of the Atlantic. They're a set of nine islands in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, formed by volcanic activity. They're an autonomous region of Portugal and the official language is Portuguese. During the lean years, many of the locals move to Canada/America so most people on the island speak perfect english. I will do a 3-part series documenting my time there. For my trip, I visited the largest of the islands, Sao Miguel and stayed in the capital, Ponta Delgada.

Our hotel room had the most amazing view of sunrise in the morning. On a not-so-cloudy day, you can see the most gorgeous sunrises at ~8AM. What a way to start the day :).

Driving is a must if you want to see all the points on the island so I decided to go on a local taxi tour to see the place. The first one covered the north-eastern portion of the islands as well as the village Furnas where they did a traditional Portuguese stew cooked with geothermal heat.

The island is mostly grasslands with really rugged landscapes that made for really nice pictures. The Portuguese settlers cleared most of the island when they settled a few hundred years ago so there are not many endemic plants left.

 One of the stops of the day was at this waterfall, accessible by cars. You can hop around the stones and go up to the top of the waterfall.

There were beautiful hydrangeas in bloom everywhere I went. The most amazing part was that they were different coloured flowers on one bush. I remembered in science class that hydrangeas were one of those plants that respond to the pH of the soil. So depending if its acidic/basic, they will be pink/blue, so it was just amazing to see them have different colours all in one bush. If I had visited earlier, there would be even more flowers in bloom.

waterfalls everywhere

 The weather was very unpredictable though. One minute fog, one minute rain, next minute t-shirt weather.

You can see the cloud starting to move in in this picture.

I just looove all the flowers on the island!

There were also lots of dairy cows everywhere! According to the tourguide, there are more cows than people on the island and they graze all over eating the grass. And I have to say, the milk and fresh cheese was so good! Maybe its the fact that the cows eat grass or they're always moving, but the milk has this yummy smell to it and tastes so sweet. The butter was smooth and sweet. It was all somehow...better and I don't even like milk or dairy! Perhaps this is what organic dairy is like? I gotta try some at home and compare.

cow does not look too friendly :(

There's geothermal activity all over the place and in the village of Furnas, the locals use it to cook a traditional stew.

Check out the bubbles from the spring! Every time I tried to take a video, the wind would shift and blow the steam in my face. You can smell the sulfur everywhere in this area!

I did try the traditional stew but I think the place we went to didn't do it correctly. The food I had was quite dry and there was no broth to go along with it. You can taste the sulfur in the food since it was cooked for 6-7 hours in the geothermal holes. Perhaps one day I'll find another place that cooks it right and try it again.

Our last stop of the day was in Villa Franca do Campo,  a town on the other side of the island, close to where the first Portuguese settlers found it. I really love the look of the red clay roofs and the white walls against the contrast of the lush, green land. The white houses are the tops of green houses where they grow the local pineapples. The rock you see off the coast is also a diving spot.

For dinner that night, we went to Boca de Cena, where the chef is also the waiter ,who is also the host. For a one-man show, he was actually pretty quick. I didn't really bring my camera out for dinner so no pictures guys. They had lots of different fish on the menu that I've never heard of, things like pig fish and daffodils. Overall, everything was really fresh and delicious.

So this ends the first part of my tale, I hope you liked it and I'm glad you made it to the end! For the second part, I'll show you a different side of the island as well as more of the local landscape. Have a good week!

Under the Sea at Ripley's Aquarium

Hello everyone! This weekend was my little sister's 16th birthday and since our parents are out of town, she came and spent the weekend with me. :) We decided to check out the new aquarium by the waterfront and it was so much fun! Check out some of our photos below. 

Here's my lovely lil sis, Joyce.

There were lots of little exhibits with fish from all over the world.

The best part of the Aquarium was the tunnel where the fish swim around you. We found a sea turtle swimming ahead.

Lots of huge sharks swimming up close and personal to us. It was amazing!

There's a special section for sting rays and it was so much fun to see them swim lazily about. They're really graceful looking creatures.

 You can even touch one too!

I believe these were hard shelled rays

The exhibit continues with more tropical fish and coral display. So pretty and vibrant.

The last two sections of the aquarium was for sharks and jelly fishes. Here's Joyce being eaten by a huge shark.

This is probably one of my favourites :D

Here's Joyce touching the inside of a shark...not good I guess

The jelly fish exhibit was probably my favourite in the whole place. It felt really surreal and just nice to see them laze about. :)

 We left the Aquarium around 12:30 and headed for sushi since all the fish watching made me crave some sashimi.

A look at the train tracks around Union

Overall, it was a great trip even though the admission was a bit pricey (34 dollars/person). I had a lot of fun spending time with my little sister and it was nice to see the fishes!

Have a good week everyone!