My Azores babymoon: The bump and the volcano

I’ve got a sneaking fondness for volcanoes – from a respectful distance, at least. Not the ones belching huge clouds of ash into the air and grounding planes worldwide but show me a tortured black lava field, like those in Lanzarote and Iceland, and I’m happy.

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Watching Stromboli shoot red sparks into the night sky was mesmerizing, while the looming presence of Vesuvius over Pompeii was an eerie reminder of its power. So with nine volcanic islands, I was always going to love the Azores – giving me an added incentive for an Azores babymoon.

The tallest is on Pico and the most recent major eruptions were on Faial. But even though Sao Miguel’s are officially dormant (although not extinct) there was plenty still bubbling away for my visit.

Ancient eruptions transformed the island from two separate landmasses into its current state, while there’s caldera after caldera in the hills, round bowl-shaped dips where volcano cones collapsed, many of which have become crater lakes.

Off the coast, smaller ones even fill with seawater to make natural swimming pools.

But the best bit is the hissing, steaming reminders around the typically Azorean village of Furnas, with its white Baroque church and flower carpets decorating the cobbled streets for the weekend procession.

Magma, several thousand feet closer to the surface than normal, heats the multicoloured mud until it bubbles and blups on the surface, as well as causing water to boil in small pools – one is so regular it even sounds like a heart beating.

And there are three volcanic springs, one warm one used by villagers to wash clothes for decades, another cold, fizzy mineral one and a final iron-packed one which tastes just like licking a rusty car (no, I didn’t try that personally).

Just outside the village at Furnas lake, steam erupts from the ground and the soil is so hot that villagers use it to cook food – called cozido, the traditional meat and vegetable dish is layered in a pot which is lowered into the earth on a string and left for six hours to slowly heat through.

These days, the city council pays Tomas to oversee everything, and he marks up stakes for each family (if you don’t get there at around 5.30am, the pits are gone and your lunch becomes dinner), while local restaurants have their own section, with burly welly-clad men turning up at intervals with spades.

I tucked into mine (pork, more pork, black pudding, beef, chicken, potatoes…) at the Terra Nostra hotel, after one last volcanic surprise – a swim in the hotel’s geothermal pool.

For 16 Euros, which includes entry to the beautiful botanic gardens, you can laze in the gorgeously warm waters, around 28C and hotter in summer, before getting pummeled under the 35C hot springs.

It might look like a muddy pool, but it’s like relaxing in a hot bath – thankfully not too hot for the bump, and even worth sacrificing my new tankini to the rusty water.

A babymoon in the Azores isn’t just about volcanoes. Uninhabited until Portugal claimed the islands in the 15th century, São Miguel feels just like mainland Portugal – just frozen several decades further back in time, which makes the islands a perfect place to slow down too.

In the villages, fishermen sit in the main squares decorated with traditional azulejo tiles but the houses are made of dark basalt. And nowhere else has places like Rocha de Relva, a tiny isolated settlement hanging onto the cliff edge, home to wandering donkeys.

The traditional white Baroque churches are the same as you’ll find elsewhere in the country, but here the villages are set among tea plantations and calderas, volcanic lakes shining blue and green in the sun.

Sete Cidades is the unmissable highlight: twin crater lakes, one green, one blue. There are plenty of legends about them: one says they were created from the tears of a lovelorn princess and a shepherd (the truth is rather less romantic: the different colours are due to the different sands).

The whole scenery is colourful. Wild flowers grow everywhere, while Europe’s only commercial tea plantation, Cha Gorreana, is a splash of brightest green. The machinery dates back to the time of British India, but it’s an unforgettable place for a cuppa.

For a bit more kick, pineapples grown in the Arruda plantation glasshouses outside the capital Ponta Delgada are used to make a sticky sweet liqueur – one bottle came back with us to save for after the baby was born.

And in the seas around the islands? Whales galore. In fact, you can find up to 26 different types of whales and dolphin in the waters of the Azores.

They’re drawn here year-round by both the warm temperatures of the water and the fish stocks, although if you want to see them close up, boat trips only run between May and October.

Sadly it’s not something you’re likely to be able to do while pregnant either, so plan a return trip to spot everything from blue whales to humpbacks, minkes, pilot, fin and sperm whales, as well as orcas.

There are viewing points on dry land though too: pack your binoculars, find a comfy spot and gaze out to sea – at the Terra Azul whale-watching post, we spotted a pod of around 15 dolphins frolicking in the waves.

As a babymoon, a final escape before baby makes three, there can be few places as unique as the Azores for a final overseas trip with a bump.

And if you’re heading back with kids, especially with older kids, you’ll find plenty of things to do in the Azores on a return visit

Disclaimer: My trip was arranged with the Azores tourist board and SATA International

Images copyright MummyTravels

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