Terceira Island Crater Walk

The day started out cloudy and unpromising. I think the Oldies knew themselves that they were being overly optimistic, setting off to drive up to the top of Serra de Santa Barbara which, at 1021m, is the highest point on Terceira. ‘Ah well, the weather’s so changeable, it’ll probably be gorgeous by the time we get thereʹ they said.

Half an hour later, we were sitting in the car on the summit, in impenetrable cloud and winds that threatened to blow our little rental into the ditch. Or, put another way – Visibility: nil. Wind: won.

And so we waited for the cloud to clear. And waited. And waited. Eventually, His Lordship announced that, gale or no gale, he could wait no longer, he just had to get out to take a leak. As he started to get out of the car, Her Ladyship shouted over the howling wind ‛Hold on tight to it. In this wind, it could get ripped out of your hand!ʹ Himself just stared at her. ‛The door, I meant!ʹ

Although we got the occasional glimpse of what we took to be a crater, the Oldies eventually called it a day and set off back down the mountain. We hadn’t gone far when the cloud cleared, revealing the most incredible vista before us. Typical!

If the coast of Terceira resembles the west of Ireland, the interior of the island most certainly does not. It is like a cross between a tropical jungle and an extra-terrestrial landscape.

In the forest park at Mata da Serrata, for example, the vegetation seemed unreal. With giant ferns and heathers, huge eucalyptus trees, massive Japanese cedars and thick blankets of mosses and lichen coating everything, it was hard to believe we were still in Europe. Well, if you can call the middle of the Atlantic Europe.

One of our most amazing excursions into the interior of the island was to the Furnas do Enxofre. These fumaroles definitely gave me the feeling of being on another planet. Although the strong smell of sulphur gave me flashbacks of the spa in Harkány in Hungary! This weird phenomenon is basically steam emerging out of fissures in the volcano. The steam comes out at 90 degrees, and is over 130 degrees just one metre inside. Hot stuff! The vegetation is yellow at source of steam, elsewhere it gives rise to all kinds of weird and wonderful flora. I thought the circular boardwalk was a great idea. It gives an excellent overview of the area, whilst keeping heavy footed humans off the delicate natural terrain.

Typically, the Oldies had stumbled across the fumaroles by accident. I think this made them realise that they’d better examine their maps a little more thoroughly in future. Sure enough, a couple of days later they set off in search of a certain Furna d’Agua. I am pretty certain they hadn’t a clue what it was, where it was and what they might do when they got there. But then again, that’s never stopped them.

Naturally enough, on the way the Dynamic Duo got hopelessly lost. Several times. When we finally arrived, they gathered from information boards at the car park that the visit entailed a short circular walk, just 4km. The route started on an old lava field, then turned onto the Passagem das Bestas. These deep ruts were apparently made by ox carts which, in the past, were driven along here on their way to the Guilherme Moniz crater to collect wood. Judging by the depth of those ruts, there must have been some seriously heavy traffic along this ancient highway!

After a steep climb through an amazing forest of Japanese cedars, we had to cross some open pasture. Her Ladyship became decidedly nervous when she spotted a herd of bulls in a field nearby. Well, she was wearing a red coat… After all our dawdling so far, we made it across those fields at an amazingly rapid pace!

Herself looked a lot more relaxed once we turned into a deep ravine which was full of Azorean heather and juniper. I thought it was a bit eerie, like some sort of narrow gauge jungle, but no doubt she was thinking that at least there wasn’t much chance of meeting a bull down there.

The highlight of the walk was the incredible view down into the Guilherme Moniz crater. At an average diameter of 7km, it is largest crater in the Azores. That is one enormous hole! It appears that the crater is nowadays used as farmland. A big bull farm, in fact. As in a big farm with big herds of big black bulls. That’s a lot of bull.

There was big flocks of gulls down there too. Hah! Very black and white.

I had noticed several bullrings as we drove around the interior of the island and it is impossible to miss the bull sculpture in the centre of the roundabout near the Terceira Island Bullring in Angra do Heroísmo. I can’t say I like the idea of bull fighting, but at least they don’t kill the bulls in the fights here. There is also a tradition on the island of bull runs in the streets. From what I have seen from the videos that are often shown in local souvenir shops and cafés, it looks like the bulls come off better than the humans every time.

As we stood there gazing at the crater, we were treated to our own private bull fight. Some farm workers appeared, one in a tractor and another couple on foot, obviously attempting to herd several dozen bulls from one field into another. Each time they got them heading in the right direction, a couple of bulls would break away, resulting, of course, in the rest of the herd following along behind them.

Eventually the herders got the bulls where they wanted them, apart from one loner. That’s when the fun began. The farmhands on foot gave chase, but they were no match for this stubborn beast. Four legs are definitely better than two. The bull won round after round, with the poor lads running after it until they looked fit to collapse. At one stage, the bull did an about turn and took a direct run at one of the lads who miraculously found some renewed strength in his legs. I’ve rarely seen a human move so fast. That lunging black bull gave him wings!

It was only after the bull finally decided for itself to join the rest of the herd at their watering hole that the battle was finally won. I suspect that the farmhands returned to their own watering hole for a well-deserved drink after that performance!

As we descended from the viewing point, we ended up in yet another jungle-like ravine which brought us full circle, back to the ox cart track. Would you believe, that 4km walk ended up taking us almost 4 hours to complete, it was just so fascinating!  But in case you thought the Wingless Wonders were finally becoming seasoned travellers, they never actually found the Furna d’Agua they had set out to find. Whatever it was. Some things never change.

I was sorry to hear that our time on these wonderful islands was already drawing to a close, but thrilled to hear the Oldies resolving to make a return trip at the earliest opportunity. Like them, I am completely smitten with this amazing Atlantic archipelago.

Azores, you make my heart soar!

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