Thursday, day #5 was spent exploring and enjoying the hot springs at Caldeiras Velha and trying another waterfall.
Originally, we had planned on going to Furnas but I had read the previous night that they are not as nice and a lot more touristy. So, change of plan and after a late breakfast we drove to Caldeiras Velha.
Once again, as soon as we gained a little altitude we got into the clouds and drizzle which turned into rain once we arrived at the hot springs. But it didn’t bother us. We parked and went up some stairs to the entrance. It cost 10 EUR/person to walk the grounds and use the hot springs.
You get allotted one and a half hour at specific times - crowd control. Which is a good thing but unfortunately for my taste it was still too crowded and loud. People were so loud, adults screaming like children - they had fun, I get it but it was a big turn off for me.
Anyways, we didn’t get in when we got there but had a choice of 3 pm or 6 pm. We decided to purchase the tickets and return for the 3 pm slot.
I took the picture on the right at a stop on our drive to the springs. You cannot really get how steep it went up but you may get an idea.
BTW - this is a vertical panorama taken with my iPhone.
Until then we went on a mission: To search and find an accessible waterfall. And this time we succeeded, there were even several waterfalls and more to see at the
Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeirões
Parking as usual was slightly challenging but we were used to it by now. The tiny lot was full so roadside it was and in southern European fashion - halfway on the road - LOL. Seriously, it was okay though. We walked on the road back to the 'park' and started exploring the different waters on display.
Along a stretch of a few hundred meters there were big falls, tiny falls, rapids, a pool that people on a guided tour could jump into from five or ten meters height and even an old water mill was on display. It's a really cool place.
And like almost everywhere on the Azores there's a constant up and down to walks and stairs, lots of stairs. By the end of our vacation I scowled when I saw stairs - hahaha.
 |  |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
At the base of the biggest of the waterfalls a pool of water was separated from the next drop by a stone wall. Sometimes water splashed over it down to the small stream flowing into the next bigger one. Naturally, this was a perfect spot to take photos with the waterfall as the backdrop, we did, too, very carefully.
However, some knuckle heads weren't nearly as careful when using this stone wall to cross over to the other side of the stream. And sure enough only a few minutes later while we were walking away we heard screams and - yup, sure enough a teenager had fallen down the maybe two meters and her father scrambled to get down to her. Thankfully, it looked like apart from the shock she was fine. But, seriously, what the f***k?! A wet stone wall and you don't think it might be slippery? I know, Americans (and maybe others, too) will say, well, this would never have happened if the site had been properly secured. True, but then 99 % of visitors would not have been able to enjoy the beauty of the waterfall close up. All thanks to 1 % of idiots out there spoiling it for the rest of us. Okay, rant over. Onwards...
Time went by quickly exploring the park and soon enough we needed to be on our way to make it to our slotted time at the hot springs. This is where we snapped for a bit of fruit for lunch - what a view!
Caldeiras Velha
 |  | |
 |  |
 |  |
While it had been beautiful sunny at the park as you can see from the pictures, once we got to the higher altitude of the hot springs it was raining again. It was still pretty warm though so we didn't even bother with rain jackets and by the time we got into the gated area of the springs it had stopped.
The photos above and below give you an impression of the backdrop and canopy of the hot springs. Just realized I didn't take any photos of the actual pools, too many people in the picture...
Unlike most people who went straight to change and into the stone pools we had a look around first and went to the main building with a small exhibition on the geology of the Azores.
But eventually we changed and explored the different pools as well. Had we known what we knew towards the end of our visit we had waited even longer because less and less people were in the pools as they were leaving for their bus(es). We heard a lot of Eastern European languages and Swiss. Apparently, there was a Swiss tour group there and they were merrily chatting away in Swiss German (which I can understand 😃 having lived in Switzerland).
To be fair, these hot springs are in a really unique and beautiful setting. for some reason, there are times that big, touristy crowds annoy the hell out of me. But look at this lush, tropical, jungle like park? It reminded us immensely of Hawaii, well, more like Jurassic Park since we've not yet been to Hawaii. Thankfully, no dinosaurs were lurking spotted during our visit.
 |  | |
 |  |
 |  | |
 |  |
The drive back to Ponta Delgada was not that long and it was a little early for dinner. So, we decided to jump on the bicycles our hotel provided and bike along the marina promenade for an hour or so. That was fun! In the end it had been another fun day.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
OceanBee
p.s. I am happily supporting Worldmappin and am posting this into their community and pinning it to my map on their service. I just love to have a visual overview of all the places that I have been to blogged about, I have been to a few more. Maybe I'll get them all onto the map eventually. It is such a cool way to explore our world.
I, actually, looked at a few Azores posts on Hive before we went on this trip e.g. this one for more details and photos of the different stone houses at Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeirões this post by betterthanhome
