Monte Brasil and More

Today we wanted to go and check out Monte Brasil.  You could drive up or take the steep 2.5 meter hike (one way) to the top.  We opted to drive.  In addition to it being beautiful, it's a great place to get a look at the city below.  There was a really nice park up there.  I wished we would have had Travis.  They had at least an 8 foot slide.  It would have been so fun for him.  They also had a bird zoo.  (Is that what it's called when there are only birds?)  Here's some of the views we saw.

Because Monte Brasil is the highest place on the island this is also where the military base is.  We weren't able to go on base but did get a few pictures.  

There was a very friendly guard on duty.

This is one of the gates you have to pass through to get to the mountain. 

This monument is dedicated the soldiers who have served.

From here we went back to Pointe Negro to go swimming.  Unfortunately, the wind was really blowing and we chickened out.  The water actually wasn't that cold but the wind was enough to have us delay this adventure.  Here's some better pictures of the "pool". While we were there we saw fish jump so apparently you aren't swimming alone. 

I love watching the waves hit the black lava rocks.  I wanted to remember this so I took this short video.  The sound of the wind almost overpowers the sound of the waves.

Here's another short clip because I just can't get enough of the ocean.

From here we drove to the north end of the island.  Here you find some really steep cliffs with sheer drop-offs.  The water color around the cliffs was the prettiest blue.  We couldn't figure out if this was because of the water crashing into the cliffs or is there was something else playing in.  The color went out pretty far into the ocean.  Kind of strange.

For whatever reason there was this chair made out of rock here on this little outlook.  It looked like a throne to me.

The pointe's lighthouse.  It's all solar now.  No more lighthouse keepers.

This side of the island is also where the National Forest is.  The trees were so dense here.  You could get lost and no one would find you for days.  What I can't figure out is - if this is island was created due to a volcanic eruption, where did the trees come from?  We also saw deer scat.  Where did deer come from?  This island is hours and hours from anywhere. 

There's a lot more farming on this side of the island.  Notice they farm right up to the edge of the cliff.

Terceira Island is a culture of relaxation.  All along the coast you find these outlooks.  They have rock walls and almost always places for you to sit and enjoy the view. 

We even found the local LDS church.  We're both looking forward to going tomorrow.  It should be interesting as it's a Portuguese branch.

In finding the church we had to go down some really REALLY narrow streets.  I was so scared we were going to scrape the buildings.

Another wonderful day of sightseeing.  I can't wait to see the south side of the island.