Day 20: Cave Exploring

We loaded up in the van today for a trip around the island!

First stop was Gruta das Torres, an underground lava tube. The biggest one in Portugal is right here on Pico Island. It was an organized tour of about 20 people complete with shower cap (ha!), helmet and flashlight (“torch”).

 

The great thing about being on a tour in the Azores is there are very few Americans here, so you truly feel as if you are far away from home. Lucky for us our guide gave the tour in Portugese (first) and then repeated himself in English. Meanwhile, the family behind us was translating everything into French and the family ahead of us was German. Quite the mix!

 

The different lava formations in the cave were pretty impressive. Geology 101.

 

This lava formation is famous for resembling Mona Lisa.

 

At one point the guide had all of us turn off our flashlights for a few minutes and stand in complete silence. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a place that dark in my life. As much as you looked for even the tiniest bit of light – there was none (although I think I caught a faint glow of Jim’s watch). Pretty cool!

 

After the lava tube we continued on the one main road around the island. A short detour just outside Madalena to look at a cool fort. There are vineyards everywhere! Instead of stakes they use the lava rock and it's beautiful to see the green grape vine snaking through the black rock.

 

Stopped at one of our favorite beaches (Lajes) hoping for some surf. Todd (as usual) jumped into the water hoping for a little something. But there wasn’t much and there were actually too many jelly fish in the water to even get wet. Todd was stung a few times. So the kids spent the time trying to catch the jelly fish instead!

 

We continued around the island after Lajes. A quick stop in Santa Barbara for a picture. Tried to grab a bite at our favorite BBQ spot but they were packed. So we ended up at the great café in Calheta. Dinner by moonlight. No complaints!