The stretch of road west from Ribeira Grande provides continuous lovely views of the lush northern coastline, with tea plantations (open to visitors; ask at the Tourist Office in Ponta Delgada) marking neat clearings in the dense natural vegetation. Not far from Ribeira Grande is the site of São Miguel’s first airport, near Rabo de Peixe, disused since the opening of Ponta Delgada’s airport in 1969, though there are plans to rebuild and enlarge it so that it once again becomes the island’s main airport. All along this coastline are small fishing communities such as Sao Vicente and Capelas, the latter with a whaling factory that hums with activity in summer, the whaling season, when the pretty hay becomes a bloody scene of carnage.
Further west on the main road is the Miradouro de Santo Antonio offering panoramic views over Santo Antonio itself and east to the bay of Capelas. At the north-western tip of the island is a cluster of small villages including Santa Barbara, with an excellent restaurant (Cavalo Branco), and Bretanha, where the Breton colonists settled. One of the principal crops grown in this area is maize, as is only too evident from the tall pyramid-shaped stacks of drying cobs in every garden.
Mosteiros (‘Monasteries’) on the west coast lies far below the main road on a flat tongue of lava, a small village noted chiefly for its natural rock formations, particularly the Ilheus ‘O Frade’ and ‘A Freira’ (Monk and Nun Islets) just off the coast, which do vaguely resemble a pair of stocky cloaked figures. South of here the coastal road continues round the island through several small hamlets of no particular interest, past the airport and back into Ponta Delgada.
Finally, one excursion that’s virtually compulsory for tourists is into the north-west interior of São Miguel, to the Lagoas das Sete Cidades (‘Makes of the Seven Cities’). The two lakes are actually joined, but because of the different species of algae inhabiting their waters, one appears bright green while the other is blue as the sky above. A road bridge crosses the narrow neck in the centre of the lakes, marking the boundary between sapphire and emerald, and it’s possible to cast a leaf over the bridge into the blue lake and watch it reappear on the green lake. The lakes lie in a vast crater surrounded by steep hills and dark forests, with a small village of Sete Cidades itself lying on a low shelf beside the lake. Once inaccessible except on foot, the village can now be visited by motorists, though you should pause first to admire the best view of the lakes at Vista do Rei (where a new hotel is being built, destined to enjoy the most magnificent situation in the island), nearly 2,000 ft above sea level and more than 1,000 ft above the lakes. Then, following the rough track down through forests and heather, you can drive across the bridge between the lakes to the fantastically fertile spit of land where Sete Cidades stands amid gardens, parks and private estates. In summer the lakes attract hundreds of campers and day visitors but nothing can dent the tranquil air of this exquisitely beautiful spot, where you can almost hear the flowers unwrapping their petals.
