Sao Miguel is one of my favourite places, I've visited a couple of times, and hope to go back there a few more! It's a volcanic island in the north Atlantic Ocean, about 900 miles west of Portugal. Due to its location it has a more tropical climate than the rest of Europe, so exploring woodland and forests there is a fascinating experience.
The island is built upon a number of volcanos, which are now wonderful lakes, woods, and environments to explore. One of these is the Furnas volcano, to the east of the island.
There's a large lake inside the crater area, which has some excellent botanical gardens, and a chapel built on the edge of the lake. The chapel 'Nossa Senhora das Vitórias' is gothic in style and was built by José do Canto, for his wife. A wonderful gesture!
From the botanical gardens there's a walk, called the Salto do Rosal, probably a mile or two that takes you to through woodland, past some fields, and then past abandoned farm building and up a short valley area to a wonderful waterfall, an amazing place to soak up the atmosphere of the countryside, away from any traffic noise, just to experience the sound of the water, and the bird sounds all around you.
We could only stay a little while as it was getting late, we visited at the end of the day, but hopefully, at some point in the future I'd love to return and take a picnic maybe, exploring more of this beautiful sub-tropical paradise...
