Day 5
Today was beach day. We drove down towards Vila Franca Do Campo looking for another beautiful beach. We had heard that the beach near Caloura Hotel was very nice. We followed the highway down to the south end and located the natural pools first. This is a pier surrounded by lagoon-like water with a swimming pool at the end. There is no sand here, it is rocky with a boat dock, but the locals perch up on the rocks and cement, and dive off the pier. They love their diving!
Speaking of diving, The Red Bull Cliff Diving World series was in Sao Miguel yesterday. It was hosted on Ilheu Vila Franca do Campo, an island just off the shore of Vila Franca do Campo. The island was closed so the only way to watch was to be on a boat and be awake by 8 o'clock am. We were none of those things, so we looked up the highlights on:
http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Video/RED-BULL-CLIFF-DIVING-IN-THE-AZORES-2012-WORLD-SERIES-HIGHLIGHTS-021243237550697
These are pictures from that website:
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| from rebull.com |
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| from redbull.com |
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| from redbull.com |
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| from redbull.com |
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| From redbull.com |
Very cool!
We drove back the other way and found the beach. If you follow the Caloura Hotel signs, it will take you to Praia beach. This is the most beautiful beach we have seen on the island so far. High rocky cliff sides encircle the brown sandy shore. The water looks green and clear here, and you can see the bottom. It gets deep very quickly, and we learned most people enter by taking a few steps and then taking a dive into the waves. We had to move our towels further up the beach as the waves vary from large to small most of the day and sometimes come as high as the rock croppings on the far side. We started on the far side in the morning, then moved to the other half of the beach on the other side of the rock cropping. This side is the "recommended beach" according to signs. I would recommend going earlier in the day as it gets very busy by the afternoon. The locals bring epic picnic lunches, with tupperware filled with marinated meats to bbq on the stone fire places above. Both beaches are down a steep descend of stairs, and by the end of the day it is quite exhausting to carry yourself back up.
The above shot is looking down from the top of the stairs on the far side. This is the side we spent the morning on. I liked this side better. There are a lot of families and kids on this side who like to play in the waves and jump off the rocks.
Above is the "recommended" side. It is very busy in the afternoon with teens, and adults. On both sides, but more noticeably on this side, the waves look as though they are covered in a line of seaweed or sea debris. At closer inspection, we learned that it is actually floating rocks. There are little jelly fish here too, but they don't bother you too much. Sometimes you can see them sometimes you can't. I was lucky to be traveling with two east coast jelly fish experts, who told me to cover my stung arm with wet sand, after fearing I'd have to somehow pee on myself to relieve the minor stinging sensation. It went away quickly.
Swimming in the beautiful green waters at Praia Beach.
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| The white building on the cliffside behind the building with the orange roof is Caloura Hotel. |
The only downside is that there is no food or drink for sale down at the beach or up at the parking lot. There are showers and washrooms though. We drove to a cafe on the way to Lagoa to eat lunch. The grilled mussels were delicious.
We drove back home to freshen up, then left for dinner in Ponta Delgada. We wanted to find Rotas, a vegetarian restaurant that we had heard good things about, but we couldn't find it, despite a lot of support from some very helpful locals. We did end up finding another restaurant, Bar Colegio 27 on
Rua
Carvalho Aráuj. Street names are not easy to locate, or read, so if
you are google mapping a location, it's best to go by landmarks on the
map, and not actual street names.
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| The cockroaches come out at night. Look out! |
This is tucked away on a street just south of the library. Our servers were very informative and explained the history of the building over the past 200 years from being a salt maker shop, to horse stable, to brothel, to restaurant. The bar features a variety of music, including but not limited to, live jazz and Portuguese Folk, and most of the patrons are tourists, so everything is written in English. It is more expensive here compared to many other restaurants, but for good reason. The food is flavourful, with a little flare, compared to the usual fish, boiled potatoes and corn. Becky had a chicken ceasar salad, Shay the smoky rib salad, with filo cheese, Jarvis the trigger fish, and I had the Steak Frites. The tomato and goat cheese salad, and the carpaccio and caviar starters were very tasty.
After dinner we went to the square off of Campo de Sao Francisco across from the Forte de Sao Bras, per our waiter's suggestion. There is a stage for live music, a carousal, and a bunch of stands, or mini bars, that sell any possible drink you could require. Popcorn, ice cream and other foods are available as are some goods from local merchants if you get there early enough. We had passion fruit drinks from bar Cariocas, and Strawberry daiquiris and a pineapple PDL, from K bar. Very fun environment.
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| This was the Brazillian bar recommended to us by our servers at Bar Colegio 27 |
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| This place got popular later at night. Must have been the flashing neon lights. |
Everyone hangs out by either strolling around the square or sitting on picnic tables.
Above is the "recommended" side. It is very busy in the afternoon with teens, and adults. On both sides, but more noticeably on this side, the waves look as though they are covered in a line of seaweed or sea debris. At closer inspection, we learned that it is actually floating rocks. There are little jelly fish here too, but they don't bother you too much. Sometimes you can see them sometimes you can't. I was lucky to be traveling with two east coast jelly fish experts, who told me to cover my stung arm with wet sand, after fearing I'd have to somehow pee on myself to relieve the minor stinging sensation. It went away quickly.
We drove back home to freshen up, then left for dinner in Ponta Delgada. We wanted to find Rotas, a vegetarian restaurant that we had heard good things about, but we couldn't find it, despite a lot of support from some very helpful locals. We did end up finding another restaurant, Bar Colegio 27 on Rua
Carvalho Aráuj. Street names are not easy to locate, or read, so if
you are google mapping a location, it's best to go by landmarks on the
map, and not actual street names.
Everyone hangs out by either strolling around the square or sitting on picnic tables. 
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