Europe’s Best Kept Secret

The Fairytale Island: Sao Miguel, Portugal

Once upon time, an enchanted fairytale island emerged in the Atlantic Ocean. Its beauty cannot be compared to anything else; it’s so mystical, divine, and serene. This unspoiled heaven on earth is called Sao Miguel.

When we first arrived, our tour guide greeted us by saying “welcome to heaven, a place not a lot of people have been to”. They even asked us not to tell anyone about the islands as they want to keep the beauty of the islands raw and untouched. So I decided to right a blog about it LOL.

This is an unpopular destination, not a lot of people know about the islands of the Azores. They have 9 islands but we decided to explore only one, which happened to be the biggest one of them all. Sao Miguel has 4 volcanoes in which 2 of them are active. The main spoken language is Portuguese. You can think of the Azores as the “Hawaii of Europe”.

 

Sao Miguel is home for the greenest moss that your eyes will ever see, epic sunsets, whimsical waterfalls, endless forests, unique volcanic sites, sparkling blue lakes and pristine black sand beaches. It is also Europe’s oldest and only tea producers.

This is a nature’s lovers dream. Everything is mega vibrant and colorful. Some people say it reminds them of certain breathtaking landscapes found in Ireland but times 30.

Upon arrival you will be looking at hydrangeas left right and center. Honestly I have never EVER seen so many hydrangeas in my life and they were 4 times bigger than normal. Best time to go is in July and August (as our tour guide Carlos advised) because everything is in full bloom during those months.

I have to mention, food on the island is not great. We stayed at one of the newer hotels and we didn’t enjoy the food there. We tried other restaurants and they weren’t that good either, definitely not vegan friendly. For non-vegans, you might be ok but probably not going to be the best food you have in Europe. I’d say that was the only downside of our experience there. If you do go, just bring some dry snacks along, and perhaps rent a room with a kitchenette where you can make your own meal.

I highly recommend signing up for one of the tours. The ones we did were tours #5 & 6 with a company called Amazing Tours. It was an all day excursion but we saw plenty of breathtaking scenery and we learned a lot about the island. I recommend at least 5 days in Sao Miguel. An overload of scenic landscapes will leave you wordless; therefore you will need enough time to process it all.

My favorite spot on the island were the Twin Lakes Hiking Trail and King View of Sete Cidades. Our first tour was very early in the morning, and the fog that day was pretty intense. Our tour guide suggested that we skip the twin lakes and go straight to see the King view in Sete Cidades. I was like wait, hold up, what? I came all the way here to see the twin lakes; I was dying to see them, I HAD to see them! However, Carlos (our guide) assured me that it would be a waste of time as the fog was covering the view and I felt pretty down about it knowing I don’t have a lot of time to do some exploring on our own because these tours tend to be 9-10 hrs long.

The next day we had our second tour on the other side of the island and we really enjoyed it but in the back of my head I kept fantasizing about the twin lakes trail. I asked Carlos to take me back and he said it’s not possible as we were far away from it. I waited for the tour to finish and for everyone to be dropped off then I BEGGED Carlos to desperately take us to the twin lakes and he finally agreed but he was worried we wouldn’t make it before dark.

Folks this picture above says it all, we made it before dark just about the gates were closing, we had to beg another guy to let us in and he said ok but we would have to climb our way out as he was going home after he closes the gates. I said “YES, I’d climb the gate on our way out but just please let us in”.

 

Jon and I ran as fast as we could to see what’s down the trail and I can’t tell you the feeling I got when my eyes laid sight on this magnificent beauty. I got goosebumps, and feelings I never felt before about any other place! I actually shed a tear or two. It’s like I was looking at this picture-perfect painting and not sure if it was real.

To me, it was the most epic view on the whole island, actually the most epic view period! If you look closely, one lake is blue and the other is green and apparently, there is a legend behind the color of the lakes. The story of a princess named Antilia who her father (the king) forbade her from being with the man she loved. The legend says that Antilia and her lover begged the king to meet one last time to say goodbye so they met at this hill where they each cried two rivers of bitter tears in which then formed the twin lakes. Antilia’s tears formed the green lake and her lover’s tears formed the blue lake. Although they couldn’t be together but the lakes will always be there to remind us of their love. Ok enough with the storytelling. However, the story is pretty romantic, right?

Being here made me feel utter peace and serenity. This island’s superlative nature struck my heart to the core and every ounce of my memory will forever reminisce this beauty. Until next time, my beautiful Sao Miguel.

Be inpired,

MM