Our trip to the Green Island

I had never heard of the Azores until a month ago. After having to cancel our much awaited trip to India, I was looking for a small vacation within Europe to lift my spirits. Since it is peak winter season here in Luxembourg, I was hoping to go somewhere warmer, but not too far. While I like going on vacations to bigger cities ( all the art store visits in new countries!), I thoroughly enjoy vacations in quieter towns, filled with greenery and lots of open spaces to walk around, sketch and admire the place. My husband also prefers a vacation where we don’t have to worry about our bags and wallets all the time.

Made a quick stop near this farm to admire the view

My brother in law, who is always travelling and visiting new places, suggested the Azores. One look at Google images was all it took for me to fall in love! An archipelago filled with lush green vegetation, sub tropical warm climate, volcanic mountains, pristine blue and green lakes, beaches, waterfalls, caves, hot springs and geysers - these are the main attractions of the Azores! Sounded perfect!

Me trying to check if the water was too cold. It was!

Since January is not one of their main holiday season, the tickets to fly to the Azores were very affordable and also safer (in terms of the pandemic) due to less people around this time of the year. We quickly booked our tickets and I started reading about the islands, the people, the volcanic history, the plants and trees that grow there, where to stay, what to eat, what to see, and so on. I love this part of planning for a trip as much as going and doing all of that!

Sao Miguel Island

In the one week that we stayed there, we were in the Sao Miguel island (also called the “Green Island” and rightfully so). There are options to visit the other islands of the Azores but we wanted this trip to be a relaxed one, without having to rush everywhere to tick off all the must visit places. We took our time in every place we visited and sometimes just stopped our rental car wherever we found a pretty spot, to click pictures, go on a short walk to see the place or even a little picnic in the mountains and of course to paint.

You can find lots of cows on the island. Sometimes on the roads while driving

The island is full of curvy, winding roads.

Here I want to share three main highlights of this trip, which are not to be missed when you are there.

Sete Cidades

Before driving to the quaint town of Sete Cidades ( located in the center of a huge volcanic crater), we stopped to see the twin lakes Lagoa Verde and Lagoa Azul (green and blue lakes) formed inside the crater.

One of the popular viewpoints is “The Hell's Mouth Viewpoint”. After a short walk from the parking spot, you can see several volcanic crater lakes all around and it is simply breath taking.

Furnas

On one of the days, we drove early to the town of Furnas. This sleepy town is known for it’s active geothermal areas, hot springs and geysers. After watching all the hot geysers, taking in all that sulphur smell, roaming around the town and having a nice heavy meal, we visited the Grená nature park and started our climb, up the long winding steps. This dense nature park is filled with endemic vegetation and was one of my favourite places. The climb leads up to beautiful views, roaring waterfalls, and lovely pathways.

It had just stopped raining when we were there, so the whole forest was damp, and the pitter patter of water droplets from the trees was music to our ears as we climbed up the steps.

Tip: If you are in the Azores for fewer days and don’t have time for several hikes, then go to Furnas and the Grena park. You’ll be amazed at the variety of natural wonders you can see in a day.

The town of Furnas. All that smoke is from the hot springs all around the town.

The winding steps in the middle of a forest in Grena

Lake Fogo

This is one of the biggest crater lake in the Sao Miguel island and also one of the prettiest. Instead of taking the more obvious hiking path down to the lake, that was right in front of us, we decided to climb up the mountain on the left and hike down from there. While the views from there were absolutely beautiful, it soon turned to be a rather adventurous hike for both of us. The path got narrower as we climbed down, the bushes thicker, and the rocks were slippery and we fell down several times during the whole hike. After several hours of climbing down we finally reached the beautiful lake.

When we were just about to reach the lake

What I sketched in the Azores

While we hiked a lot on most of the days, I tried to take some time out for painting or making quick sketches. It was always tricky to finish a painting because of the constant change in weather. One minute it’s bright and sunny and the next minute it’s pouring (all that year round rain is what makes the island so green!).

I used the ZigZag watercolour sketchbook from Hahnemuehle for all the sketches. It felt nice to fill a full sketchbook with things that caught my eye in the Azores. There was so much more that I wanted to sketch there, but hopefully all the pictures that I clicked will turn into paintings in my studio soon!

After a long hike down the mountains to reach the Lake Fogo

There were camellias and blue hydrangeas all across the island. These flowers will always remind me of the Azores

The first layer took a while to dry due the rain. Had to finish this back at home.

The beautiful Lake Azul, up close. Dried flowers, moss and fern that I picked during our hikes there. Treasures!

Green Paradise

The Azores has this magical vibe where it makes you feel relaxed the instant you are there. Maybe it is because of the untouched nature all around, the ocean waves that you can hear from almost everywhere, all the chirpy birds, the farmers going about with their day or just the feeling of being in a green paradise. A few days in the Azores has the power to make you feel deeply connected with nature and thankful for all of that natural beauty.