this is the island of San Miguel in the Azores a collection of nine volcanic islands with
a lush subtropical yet European feel where are the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean not very close to anything else it's a green Wonderland with maybe more cows Than
People my friends it's like Iceland meets Hawaii meets the Pharaoh Islands meets Ireland
which makes it the perfect spot for a road trip
[Music] thank you good morning it's a really nice day here up in the mountains I'm looking
at a Green Lake in front of me we landed yesterday after flying all night right now Garrett is
stuck because felicus is asleep on his arm I'm not so I'm gonna go find us some breakfast
in this beautiful Charming amazing little town got it highly recommend the custard tart
once the boys were up it was time to go have an adventure we're spending the next week
exploring San Miguel which is sort of the main island of these areas you've got you've
got food beautiful surroundings and lakes and viewpoints I mean just look at this right
here we chose this town because it's a jumping off point for so many cool things like the
multi-colored Caldera Lakes so many overlooks hi and one of the most famous hikes in the
area and we stayed several days because you never really know what the clouds might do
think about Azores weather is it can change on a dime the only predictable thing about
the weather in the Azores is that it is unpredictable there's a website called spot Azores that
has webcams all over the islands to show you the most popular areas so that you can see
whether the weather is nice or not before you choose to go and the great news is it's
almost always sunny somewhere
there's a natural hot spring in the area that we heard you can only access at low tide where
the warm water of the spring mixes with the seed a bit telling that nobody is in there
the ocean was a bit rough to be safe that
really does look like a Portuguese man of war I don't have the best of luck with jellyfish
although a couple people almost did try it that's a jellyfish but then they thought better
of it still this is located on the west coast where it's absolutely stunning and perfect
for sunset wow
[Music]
[Music] bud [Music]
oh it's scary it's scary [Music]
now the plan today is we're driving from cities and then we're heading to is it nordeste which
if you just drove it straight without stopping it'd be about an hour and a half but we are
stopping at a whole bunch of Lookouts and a waterfall and wool Island I guess you could
drive in a few hours but we're giving it a week I think even that will not will not feel
like enough what do you
[Music] want to the waterfall [Music] it's probably like 60 and it feels so much warmer
and the birds are always chirping everywhere it's so like lovely and wonderful these little
purple flowers growing it's just it's like FernGully do you remember FernGully from childhood
[Music] thank you
this waterfall is a definite must see and we learned after the hike down that one could
actually drive it instead it's kind of a steep one so judge for yourself if you'd rather
drive it or walk it when I'm old are you going to carry me are you agreeing right now yeah
okay I'm taking that as Ironclad from here there's another Super Famous Lake however
we knew thanks to spot Azores that we wouldn't be able to see it due to the fog but here's
a stock video of it but the other mirror doors and other waterfalls were totally awesome
oh
[Music]
I'm curious you were obviously here five years ago [Music] what'd you like about it what
made you want to come back with us I'd heard some good things about it about being just
like one of the most naturally beautiful places on
the geothermal activity hot spring such a unique place it doesn't really quite remind
me of anywhere else I've ever been it's true the Azores do feel distinctly their own not
really how I picture other parts of Europe until you get to towns like nordish day which
delighted the part of me that loves when everything is symmetrical and a little bit quirky
but back up I forgot to show you the amazing place we'd ended up in the night before I
loved the vacation homes in San Miguel and this one even came with a breakfast basket
with bread they made in their own Wood-Fired oven along with butter and milk from the local
cows it had two bedrooms and even a little avocado pillow for Felix but honestly the
best part is outside they had their own pool and although it wasn't quite warm enough to
go swimming I really thought of every little detail good shampoo oh my gosh it's absolutely
a beautiful place it's pristine you look devastatingly handsome from there the next logical stop
is the famous bubbling Spa town of furnace with even more gorgeous overlooks on the way
and these are just full of content cats like so many cats maybe poor cats than cows [Music]
about yesterday [Music]
my oh my now before you know it you're in the town of furnace it's bubbling boiling
and famous for volcano food which I was excited to try later that is steaming and then oh
my goodness of course cow's right over there it's crazy to see that there's a house and
just behind these bushes like a bubbling cauldron like just built around this I think they used
it for cooking for heat for energy so it's actually like him here this conversation got
me curious about the history so many similar Islands have been dominated suffered from
disease and were ultimately colonized but not the Azores settlement began in 1439 under
the direction of Prince Henry and settlers were mostly humble Farmers from Portugal looking
for a better life there were certainly attacks over the years from rival powers and there's
some evidence that Vikings would have made it first but never settled the lushness of
the islands made them ideal for agriculture and their position made them ideal for trade
during the second world war they continued to provide strategic importance as many of
the islands were used as Allied air bases the Allied Forces actually had planned to
just overtake and use the Azores and Hitler wanted them to ultimately forcing Portugal
to agree to the Allied use should Mainland Portugal be invaded by Germany over time high
birth rates and lack of available land for farming led to immigration away from the Azores
but exploring today it's obvious why so many people are trying to move here now for the
night I definitely recommend staying in this institution that pops up on all the famous
photos of San Miguel and although the most expensive place we stayed it was still only
200 per night for a two-room suite I didn't even realize I had booked with Fedora hats
a restaurant that while beautiful was honestly just okay to be honest it is so insulting
and the best part how's the food 24-hour hot spring that we often managed to get all to
ourselves even a tiny bathrobe for Felix which while we're on the topic I was just amazed
at how baby friendly it all was people loved Felix and I felt weird about busting out a
camera and recording the heartfelt interactions but suffice to say they were many and they
were so heartwarming hello cut it Inland a bit to go for a little waterfall hike near
town wanna go
it's growing on the roof
oh dang you're right apocalypse a little bit the last of us a lot of trails in here there's
the waterfall hike and then they all connect and go different ways [Music] the taste not
like giardia
but he's like going after my ponytail
[Music]
s that was an awesome hike like two and a half miles and this island is just full of
amazing hikes so it's hard to pick but I liked that one and now I'm freaking hungry let's
eat some volcano food yeah look at this tiny cow there's a dish unique to furnas where
stew is cooked underground using the geothermal activity to heat it it used to be a way for
locals to eat holiday meals but now it's become a regular thing with local restaurants serving
it daily kozido basically means stew and while you can get out on Mainland Portugal you can
only get it cooked in the ground in front of us it's good it tastes like um like what
you get out of roast dinner so there's a little bit of that earthiness to it though like it
does taste a little bit like it's been a flame the beef is my favorite part though it tastes
like it's been stewed for hours and hours and hours which it has it turns out Felix
is eating all of the cozito I cannot get enough of it they didn't have super high expectations
the cuts of meat that were in there were really delicious really flavorful really tender and
that was my favorite part of it they had Taro in there they had Greens in there they had
cabbage carrot so the more I ate it the more I thought it was really delicious I don't
think it's much to look at because it's boiled food but it was a really nice dish it was
something I would definitely have again the rest of our trip consisted of getting back
to Punta Delgada passing by a pretty cool church and the Ila de Campo just off the coast
remember what I said about there being nine islands of the Azores well we've got more
to explore with Flores next on our list which just might be the most beautiful island of
all if we can get there