Backtracking just a little, our base for the first 2 nights on Sáo Miguel island was the luxurious Terra Nostra Garden Hotel. Normally location and somewhere small and friendly, or old and quirky, are what I look for in a hotel. The selling point for this one was its highly acclaimed lush tropical gardens with a thermal spa at their centre, in the small village of Furnas. ‘A very pretty village’, we were assured by our young taxi driver, who still lived there, with his mum.
It was late when we checked in and I was quite happy with my comfy bed, but was horrified to wake next morning to the sound of steady rain. Glum faces tucked away, we tucked into a very grand breakfast indeed. ‘It’s brightening up a bit?’ Hopeful words, but by the time we’d donned macs and gone out to explore it was torrential. The thermal pool was getting fuller by the second. ‘Well, we can still go in there…?’ met with a disapproving look from the other half. So, we slipped and slithered around the uneven, mossy paths, dodging puddles and treacherous tree roots. Rain dripping off your nose, and hood, doesn’t make for the best photos, and my camera was starting to be decidedly unhappy. Still, we were surrounded by such beauty. And it was lovely weather for the little ducklings.
We’re not Spa people, and nothing was further from my mind than sitting in the hotel all day. Furnas had to have a cake shop, didn’t it? It certainly didn’t lack for water. The mill wheel was positively racing along!
Well, some folk are gluttons for punishment so, after squeezing ourselves into a cosy tearoom and, armed with a map, we set off to find Lagoa das Furnas. Intermittent rain accompanied us on a road with hairpin bends, but when you could pause and look at the scenery it promised to be beautiful. The levadas to catch the run off from the hills are a hint at how much rain the area gets. (thoughtfully, inside the hotel lifts, a 3 day weather forecast is posted, if only I’d been paying attention) Not easy to read a map on a breezy lakeshore.
It was 2 or 3 kilometres to the lake from the village and, just as we were wondering about our sanity, it appeared quite suddenly around a corner. A translucent, green beauty. Wisps of smoke on the far shore caught our eye- the fumaroles. Geothermal activity makes it possible to cook a Portuguese stew in the heat from the volcano in this part of the island. Of course, we wanted a closer look, and before you know it we’d agreed to complete the walk around the lake.
The man in blue led the way intrepidly. Some of the trees were swimming and at times it felt like we might have to.
But gradually the skies began to brighten, as we passed the woefully decrepit Ermida de Nossa Senhora das Vitórias. Overhead we were unable to identify a beautiful yellow bloom, but then the shore was lined again with the blues and creams I found everywhere on these islands.
It didn’t all end in tears. The forecast in the lift was perfectly correct, and the following morning the thermal pool looked magical with a haze of steam drifting in the sunlight. Another unforgettable memory from the Azores.
restlessjo 
It was a shame with the weather you found here! 😦
I never seen Terra Nostra Garden Park like that, with heavy rain! Of course I already experienced for several times the pool with rain, but nothing like this in the photos… but made me think about the possibility to go there with that kind of rain, take some pictures of the park and, of course, have a swim in the pool with that rain! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
The following day was beautiful, Nuno, and I saw it at dawn with the sun through the steam. Something I will never forget though I don’t have a photo. I was in the pool 🤣🏊💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ehehe, it happens! 😃🤪
LikeLiked by 1 person
In the hotel elevator was a temperature forecast for the next 3 days. It went ‘rain, sun. mixed’ over and over 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, we have a saying that we can have all seasons in a day! 😂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well done M for being intrepid enough to brave the rain, I would probably have sulked 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
We only had 2 days there, Gilly, and there was nothing for it but to get wet. You’d have loved it- honest 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
Wow, really beautiful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A special place, I thought. Thanks so much for your company 😍💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gorgeous photos. I remember this place very well, when we visited to Azores. Garden is very different from that we had in Finland, if You checked my newest post. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I can imagine, Sartenada! The gardens were beautiful even in the rain 😍💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
it is a gorgeous place even in the rain! Jo thank you so much for sharing. one of the most beautiful places on earth i think! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
You would love to spend your Friday evenings there, LolaWi. Even in the rain 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
These lovely photos will be very refreshing to all your readers who are struggling with extreme heat conditions at the moment. Also, lovely for me to think of warm rain, as I look out on cold drizzle. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh bless, Ann! Climate is the craziest thing. It’s warm here but with a lovely breeze and the sky is full of feathery white fans 😎☔⛅💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a perfectly lovely place, even with the rain.
Alison
LikeLiked by 2 people
The gardens were glorious, Alison. No need to water them! 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an intrepid pair you are! It all looks lovely, despite the rain which, i’m guessing, didn’t come in the freezing cold variety we get here.
LikeLiked by 2 people
No, warm but very wet, Anabel 🙂 🙂 And what’s a person to do when they have only a couple of days?
LikeLike
So did you have a swim in that thermal pool? As for hydrangeas, you could come down here, we have oodles of them from pale pink or blue to dark red and purple. We can even provide the wet stuff if you want. And cream teas… Did you take those fetching ponchos with you or were they provided by the hotel?
LikeLiked by 2 people
They’d be good for Becky’s July Squares, wouldn’t they? 🙂 🙂 Actually, only Mick had one. We had to share 🙂 And of course I did! What do you think we paid all that money for? Though the breakfasts were the best ever! Two swims- one murky and one in steaming sunny vapour, of which I sadly have no photographic evidence. 😦 The mister was slumbering and it was blissful. Just three of us in the pool.
LikeLike
What? You had to share a poncho? How does that even begin to work? Must admit I am not a spa person either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a big one from a ‘Chinese’ store- those cheap and cheerful places. 🙂 🙂 I just had a little jacket with a hood and a brolly. Highly effective! Wonder I didn’t get pneumonia 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙄
LikeLiked by 2 people
What a pity it was raining! Glad it didn’t prevent you from exploring Jo.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Got to fill the lakes somehow, Colline. I’ve seen so little rain in the past 8 months, it was quite a novelty. Albeit a very wet one 🙂 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Breathtaking photos of this beautiful garden. Thank you for the pleasant tour, Jo. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
The height of luxury, Amy, and not a style I’m accustomed to 😆. Thanks hon 💕
LikeLiked by 2 people
You are braver than me.. but some lovely photos of an interesting place.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I like variety, Lisa 😆 Thanks xx
LikeLiked by 1 person