FURNAS VALLEY
The Furnas Valley has such extraordinary beauty. It seems to have come out of a fairy tale!
Start by visiting the fumaroles and strolling around the lagoon, at the edge of which you will find the magnificent Nossa Senhora das Vitórias Chapel, a neo-Gothic style building considered one of the archipelago’s most unique temples.
Also visit Terra Nostra Park, which has a wonderful garden with one of the largest collections of camellias and two hot pools.
After a relaxing stroll, enjoy the famous Furnas meat stew in one of the area’s restaurants. This typical dish of São Miguel is cooked in a pot buried in the ground next to the Furnas boilers for 5 hours, which gives it a unique flavor.
In the afternoon, pass by the Dona Beija Pool, another ex-libris of the island, consisting of several natural pools of thermal hot water, flanked by a stream of warm water and a charming landscape.
TERRA NOSTRA PARK
37.772530, -25.315865
The Terra Nostra Park (Portuguese: Parque Terra Nostra) is a botanical garden in Furnas in the Povoação municipality on the Portuguese Azores island of São Miguel.
History
The garden's inception dates back to 1780, when the then United States Consul on the island of São Miguel, Thomas Hickling, in 1775 built his summer residence here, which later became known as Yankee Hall.
Only in the middle of the 19th century did the area of two hectares gradually increase. The Viscondes da Praia, or later the Bensaude family, expanded the site to an attractive size. Water gardens and plantings with dark alleys and flower beds were created, and Yankee Hall was converted into a hotel. In 1872, when the garden was already in the hands of the 2nd Visconde of Praia, he brought in Portuguese and English specialists. These carried out a reconstruction of the existing canal and built caves and avenues of boxwood, but the paths with orange trees have disappeared. Trees have been imported from North America, Australia, New Zealand, China and South Africa.
In the 1930s, the Terra Nostra Park was acquired by Vasco Bensaude, who saw it primarily as an addition to the Terra Nostra Hotel. At that time, the park reached an area of 12.5 hectares, divided into gardens and forests. Vasco Bensaude had a great knowledge of botany and horticulture, as did his gardener of Scottish origin, John McEnroe.
Thermal Pool
One of the park's primary attractions is a pool with naturally brown iron-rich thermal water at a temperature of around 37°C. It was built by Thomas Hickling in 1780 and enlarged in 1935 The pool features stone carvings and is surrounded by a ring of araucaria trees. Bathing is allowed but requires a longer shower afterward.
Tourist attraction
Due to it special beauty Park is considered a "Romantic Botanical Garden". It is "must see" tourist attraction.
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CALDEIRAS
As in any place where magma is closer to the surface, the Smoky Field of Vila das Furnas and the Smoky Field of Furnas Lagoon are areas where the imposing volcanic manifestations occur.
These calderas are small rainwater ponds formed in the craters of the dormant volcano since 1630. These emerged when the top of the volcano cone collapsed in its last eruption.
Combined with the magma that is close to the surface, the rainwater that has accumulated in these holes, reaches very high temperatures, thus causing the fumaroles, springs and hot springs. However, the fumaroles, in addition to sharing the same boiling state as water, emit vapors and gases with a strong sulfur odor.
Caldeiras in the parish of Furnas
Caldeiras in the parish of Furnas, considered the ex-libris of the municipality of Povoação, the Caldeiras in the parish of Furnas are certainly the most visited place in the entire Azorean archipelago, with the various phenomena of active volcanism contributing greatly to this attraction that are found in this location.
Medicinal muds are generally used for the treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, mainly those of allergic background, infections of the circulatory system, gastritis, depression and nervous erectism.
In this area you can see several springs of mineral carbonated waters and thermal waters, as well as discharges of hyperthermal waters associated with fumaroles, this fumarolic field being the one with the largest dimensions in the Azores.
Água Azeda do Rebentão: cold spring with an emergence temperature of 15.6 °C, acidulous. According to folk medicine, this water makes dandruff disappear and facilitates digestion.
Sour Water: spring has an emergence temperature of 15.9°C and acidic pH.
Água Miguel Henriques: spring with an emergence temperature of 21.1 °C and acidic pH.
Água da Prata: thermal spring with an emergence temperature of 34.4°C and acidic pH. Being used by the population for therapeutic purposes, namely in the treatment of eye allergies, also known as “Water of the Beautiful Eyes”.
Água do Rego: spring with an emergence temperature of 16.2°C and acidic pH.
Água Santa: thermal spring with an emergence temperature of 95.5 °C, very basic pH. According to folk medicine, this water mixed with honey, cinnamon and a little cachaça produces an excellent syrup for colds, laryngitis and pharyngitis and is where the locals make coffee and tea to enjoy.
Água do Caldeirão: thermal spring with an emergency temperature of 75.1°C, slightly gaseous. According to the folks, this water mixed with honey is effective in treating colds and coughs, including whooping cough.
Água Dr. Diniz: cold spring with an emergence temperature of 16.1°C and acidic pH.
Água Tio José de Sousa: Cold spring with an emergence temperature of 16.0°C and acidic pH.
Nascente da Ponte: source with an emergency temperature of 95.80°C.
Água do Padre José: has an emergency temperature of 55.4°C. According to folk medicine, this water relieves and cures “hangovers” and is also suitable for the treatment of cholesterol. At Chalet da Tia Mercês, you can see the thermal water of this spring turning your green tea into purple.
Caldeira Grande: fumarole with an emergence temperature of 99.5°C, basic pH. One of those with the highest temperature in the area was the boiler that supplied the old thermal center of Furnas.
Caldeira do Asmodeu: fumarole with an emergence temperature of 98.8°C, neutral pH.
Caldeira do Esguicho: fumarole with an emergence temperature of 98.0°C, basic pH. During the summer, the famous corn is cooked in the boilers. The sweet corn cobs are placed inside sacks and introduced into this boiler for approximately 1 hour.
Caldeira dos Vimes: fumarole with an emergence temperature of 70.0°C, acidulous. Boiler that comes from its name for formerly boiling wicker.
Caldeira Pêro Botelho: it is the best-known fumarole in Furnas for all the myths and stories associated with it. Also known as Boca do Inferno. Women from the village of Furnas used to make lyes in the Pêro Botelho boiler and the mud from the walls of this boiler was used for skin problems in the old thermal baths of Furnas.
The legend of the Pêro Botelho boiler:
In Furnas, for many years, lived a very bad-tempered man named Pêro Botelho.
Like many others in Povoação, he used to go and cook wicker and corn in boiling water boilers, the remains of volcanoes at the bottom of the parish.
One of these boilers, with a very dangerous access, contained a mud used in the cure of various diseases, namely rheumatism.
And once Pêro Botelho, who was going to get mud there, slipped and slipped through it.
Ah, it seemed that the strong smell of sulfur that exhaled there seemed to be getting thicker, as if that were the entrance to hell!
Pêro Botelho shouted loudly, but no one could help him.
And also no one else saw him after he had plunged into that immense caldera.
Only his screams echoed from time to time:
‘Get me out of here!’ Get me out of here!
From then on, if anyone approached near the boiler and called out to him, he would take a whiff of sulfur smoke and some rock from the bottom, mixed with mud the color of ash and smoke.
The people of Povoação began to call it Caldeira de Pêro Botelho.~
Caldeiras in Lagoa das Furnas
Caldeiras in Lagoa das Furnas is where Cozido das Furnas is made from secondary volcanism phenomena. There are currently 56 holes in activity linked to the confection of traditional stews, a part for the public and another for restaurants. One of the most interesting times of the day to visit the Caldeiras da Lagoa das Furnas is between noon and half-past noon, when those responsible for the restaurants go to the fumaroles to dig up their pots with the traditional Cozido das Furnas. This whole process starts very early when the pots are buried in holes built in the fumaroles. They remain buried for about 5 to 6 hours steaming.
Within this fumarolic field there is, with great prominence, the large fumarole named “Caldeira da Lagoa das Furnas”. Its temperature is approximately 98.5°C and acidic.
Respect the safety rules, do not go beyond the protection barriers.
Entry fee except for children up to 12 years old.
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