For our tour of the island, of a few places at least, we rented a car, the last one available, and then drove towards the Caldera (the largest crater on the island of Faial). 5 in a small Citroën, it's tight, but it's possible! Magnificent crater! It reminded me of the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. Good smaller, but you don't see a huge crater every day.
We only did part of the crater and not around it. But it was worth it. There is so much beauty everywhere here. We then stopped at a small restaurant on the side of the road for lunch. Some of us had hake (I didn't know this fish) and I tasted moray eel. Delicious! I love trying different dishes and I was not disappointed. And they just had to not be mean to Ariel, the little mermaid (that's a little joke for my mother, an Ariel fan).
We then, by chance, found the lighthouse on the island. I may have made a little cry in the car when I saw it, first my father loves headlights and I take pictures of them for him and then, because I had read about this headlight. In 1956, he was at the end of the island. In September 1957, fishermen thought they had discovered another kind of whale that made air rings in the water instead of just bubbles (from what I understood on the information boards), but it was a volcanic eruption 1km away from the coast.
A volcanic eruption that lasted 13 months and added more than 2 or 3 square km to the island of Faial.
We first went swimming on the shores of the ocean. Brilliant place, in a small bay between pieces of volcanic rocks. We couldn't swim right away because there were physalies, a group of invertebrates related to jellyfish.
It looks like a transparent bag filled with air, with small blue or pink lines. They can range from 15-20 cm, but we have also seen tiny ones of just a few centimeters. Their tentacles can go up to 15 to 40m. Well, I didn't know it at the time, but we saw at least 15-20 feet. We were told that the tentacles were very stinging, so we paid attention.
After verification, indeed, we did well. There were several when we arrived in the bay. Louis found a pole with net (pool) to remove several and his brother did the same. Then we were quiet, but we watched the surroundings.
I learned later that their tentacles are very fragile and can break easily and drift with the waves, which can cause some pain to unsuspecting swimmers. Their stings are very painful and cause skin lesions with burning or electric shock sensations. Some may need hospitalization. So if you see any, don't take them lightly.
But otherwise it was a great swim. And I even crossed the small bay to jump into the water on the other side. Those who know me know that I don't like the bottom so much or I can't see my feet, especially when there are physalies around. But since the water was so beautiful from above (a few feet), I jumped.
We then went to see the museum. It is located underground so as not to harm the landscape, isn't that a great idea. It was going to close in the next few minutes so we could only see the central hall. I wish I could have climbed the lighthouse, but too bad we went to see it from the outside.
Return to the Pousada de Santa Cruz (our hotel) to get ready for dinner. We go to the restaurant opposite, the Oceanic, but there were so many people that we only ordered a drink for an aperitif. Louis and I then went for pizza so I could sleep earlier at least one night as I'm still tired. The others looked for another restaurant, but as everything seemed full, they ate at the hotel, which was very good it seems. Another good day!
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