Some visitors consider the Azores a warm Iceland, which is only partly true. But as I hiked a rocky beach path on Sao Miguel Island, I briefly thought I was back in that sub-Arctic country.
All around me lay the kind of black and green landscape I had loved in Iceland: lunar fields of volcanic rock, covered in lichens. On one side, the azure Atlantic; on the other, a mossy cliff wall soared high above. Steam rose from the chunky ground. A faint scent of sulfur wafted in the air.
Below me, people waded in a natural tidal pool. I climbed down a ladder to join them, bracing for a chill. Instead, the brackish water was soothingly warm _ hot in places. Here at Ponta da Ferraria, a hot spring blends with ocean water at low tide, for a thrilling swimming experience.
I frog-stroked my way to the mouth of the lagoon, where cool waves crashed into the rocks. Then I let the surf carry me back to the heat, past others clinging to ropes for safety.
I was body surfing on ocean waves in a geothermic pool. Does Iceland have that?
During a September visit to the Azores ("uh-zores," though the Portuguese say "uhzhuzh"), an archipelago of nine lush islands in the middle of the North Atlantic, I discovered a fantastic respite with a temperate climate and an old Mediterranean feel, a recreational hotbed with friendly bilingual people and precious little commercialism _ all of it closer to America than any other European turf.
Inspired by the vacation packages we'd seen online, my companion and I designed our own 10-day trip, first to the trendy baroque city of Porto on the Portuguese mainland, followed by two Azorean isles: Sao Miguel, the largest and most popular, and Faial. We would later reach a third island by boat, and a fourth quite by accident.
Our penny-pinching plan seemed preposterous from the start, with eight separate takeoffs and landings on four airlines, including two quick inter-island flights on turboprop planes. One of the airlines, low-cost Ryanair, was roiled by a threatened strike for the week of our trip. And days before we left for Portugal, tropical storm Helene blew right past the islands amid 2018's wild hurricane season. I decided to purchase a robust travel insurance policy.
