Day 11: Faial

There was a weather warning for severe rain over the central islands of São Jorge, Pico and Faial for most of today, so when we woke up this morning and saw that it wasn't actively raining yet we decided to set off as soon as possible for a road trip around Faial. Faial is the smallest island that we've visited in the Azores so far, so driving around the entire island in a loop is only a journey of about 40 miles.

We started off by driving along the northern coast of Faial, stopping at any viewpoints along the route which looked promising.

This one was the Miradouro de Ribeira Seco.

There were some pretty flowers here...

...but the weather today didn't allow for much of a view of Pico.

We drove up a very bumpy road, following a signpost towards a second viewpoint called Miradouro das Pedras Negras. It was rather cloudy up here too, but a little bit more of Pico had become visible.

As we drove round towards the western side of the island, we came to Miradouro da Ribeira das Cabras.

The weather was taking a turn for the worse at this point, so we were a bit limited in what we could see.

We were now close to the bit of the island that I was most interested in seeing: Capelinhos.

This is the site of the most recent volcanic eruption in the Azores, which started in September 1957 and lasted for just over a year.

Prior to the start of the eruption, this lighthouse marked the end of Faial. 

During the course of the eruption, 2.4 square kilometres of new land was added to the island; essentially all this dark earth beyond the lighthouse.

All these rocks were created during the eruption and so are pretty young in rock terms!

The new ground is all quite barren; there isn't currently a lot growing here.

The eruption was catastrophic for the local area, with the volcanic ash destroying fields, houses and livelihoods. The population of the surrounding villages was evacuated, with the majority ultimately emigrating to America.

It was a really unique place to visit. And I also learned that this part of Faial is considered to be the westernmost point in Europe; while there are other islands in the Azores located further west, in terms of tectonic plates they are apparently on the North American plate.

After Capelinhos we continued around the coast, visiting a seaside resort called Varadouro.

There's a little beach here and some natural bathing pools, but once again the sea looked quite rough.

I enjoyed the views, but I wouldn't have fancied swimming here.

The coast in the direction I was looking in was amazingly green; one of those views that makes me think of Jurassic Park  

Before too long we'd completed a loop around the island, finishing up back in the capital of Horta.

We went back to the restaurant where we ate yesterday and attempted to eat outside with a view out over Horta's marina.

The staff recommended that we come inside though; they weren't sure whether they were going to be serving outside as they were expecting more torrential rain! We went for another non-beef, non-fish option on the menu and both had a chicken curry

The weather seemed to temporarily clear up a bit while we were inside eating.

Tim went back to the room to do some work and I had a bit of a stroll along the coast.

I found Horta's beach, though it wasn't really much to write home about!

The town's park was more impressive.

I loved this tree in the foreground.

And there was another Horta sign.

On the way back I saw what looked like the ferry coming across from Pico.

I walked through a colourful little square...

...admired some of the local churches...

...and was particularly impressed by this official-looking building...

...which had a frieze of blue and white hydrangeas on the front of it. We've seen so many hydrangeas over the past week or so; they're everywhere in the hedgerows here  

Then there were just a few more colourful streets for me to navigate...

...including the rather steep one down to our apartment.

The weather definitely hasn't been perfect today. But because Faial isn't a large island, we've managed to see quite a lot of it regardless