There are magnificent parks all along the way, with gorgeous trees, Azalias, formal gardens, picnic areas and waterfalls. Here we have
And a funny little band of park kitties, which seems to be the way here.
Along the way, we got held up for a while by these guys.
In case you are lost…
The next park along the way…
Then onto Parque Natural da Ribeira dis Caldeirões, a lush tropical paradise…
Perhaps the most amazing part of the day was the endless, winding, tree-lined and landscaped highway. It’s not easy to capture, but will try tomorrow. It was strangely formal and almost excessive, but magnificent. It stretches from Vila Franca do Campo through Furnas, all the way up to Nordeste.
Then we saw this alternative view, which captured my imagination.
They say you can see four seasons in a day in the Azores, and it was certainly a wild day of weather. The island appears to have lots of micro-climates and the weather blows in and out quickly. It was gloomy and raining on the north side of the island. We went the seven miles south over a mountainous pass through a thick cloud, and emerged to see Vila Franca do Campo and the Atlantic in full shimmering sun.