Photos For My Favourite Day - Monday In The Azores

I didn't know how excited I was to swim in the ocean or how much I have started to enjoy hiking on holidays but today was so much fun, I think it has been my favourite so far. Let me detail our activities using photos (unless otherwise stated, all pictures were taken by Jason.)

We drove to the south-west coast 

to go swimming in the ocean at Ponta da Ferraria.

The cliffs are steep, would our little car make it?

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Of course it would!

The switch-backs helped of course.

That truck is not ours, we rented a little car.

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The jagged lava rocks make for an eerie looking coastline.

But this is the best place to swim in the ocean 

when the weather is a bit cool out.

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Because these natural pools are fed by a hot spring.

At low tide the ocean is 28 C in this spot.

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These pools have been used since the fifteenth century.

History was onto something, we enjoyed a nice swim.

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Then we went for a hike at nearby Sete Cidades.

We set off to get to the lookout point for the 'twin lakes'

wanting to see the iconic crater formation.

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The walk started off taking us pass an aqueduct.

(Which I could find no information about,

obviously it killed me to have no facts on this!)

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About half way through we noticed

fog had started to roll in.

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Was it going to be worth the climb

if we couldn't see anything? 

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Because it really was a climb!

It was another hike with a big elevation gain,

almost 200m again, in a short period of time.

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But we stuck it out, worked up a sweat,

and reached the top. (Hydrate!)

It was an enjoyable walk, no one else was around.

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But at the top instead of seeing this:

Photo from a travel site.
Iconic image of the Azores,
seen a million times while researching the trip.

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We had this view:

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Still, it was a wonderful day!