Sao Miguel - King's view over a piece of Heaven

            On the west side of the island, you can find the most beautiful hike on the island. The trail starts at Miraduro Vista do Rei where you can admire the magnificent view of Lagoa das Sete Cidades crater lake. Translated, it means "the King's view"...indeed a landscape worthy of a king's eyes. It goes along the western edge of the volcano on a dirt road surrounded by fantastic vegetation.

Miraduro Vista do Rei

            This large depression on the top of Sete Cidades Volcano has an almost circular shape of around 5,3km in diameter. This volcanic caldera was formed at the time of a very explosive erruption followed by several eruptions that took place inside the caldera. These last erruptions formed the Caldera Seca, Caldeira do Alferes, Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde, which we've seen today, and Lagoa do Santiago and Lagoa Rasa, which we will be seing later, on the fith day.

            We left the car in the parking area next to the grandious ruins of hotel Monte Palace which we will talk about later, and hopped on the hike inside the forest. We enjoyed the peace of the forest for a little time because soon enough we reached the top of the volcano where breathtaking landscapes showed before our eyes. The path follows the contour of the ridge. From here you can admire other smaller caldeiras, the Sete Cidades village with its magnificent lagoons, each having their own name Lagoa Verde and Lagoa Azul, and on the opposite dirrection, the vast ocean that arises. Every patch of grass comes with a few cows grazing happily in the sun.

Sights along the way

            We followed the trail until Miraduro da Lomba do Vasco and then followed down road 9-1 towards Sete Cidades and then we turned right on the first road to return. We didn't want to take the same road on our way back. We saw this road while we were up on the ridge and decided to take it at return. This road is in the caldera, so at the end of the trip we had a short but steep sector of road through the forest to get up back to the parking lot.

Miraduro da Lomba do Vasco (left) and path on the way back (right)

You can tell by the trees in the background how steep is the climb to the parking

            We ended the hike with a distance of 12 kilometers in 4 hours.

Trail map

          What's a better way to end a hike if not with more exploration? Before we leave and as we are already here, we could not miss the chance to explore the ruins of Monte Palace hotel. This is a 5-star hotel located on the top of the mountain which has been closed and abandoned in 1990, after only 18 months of functioning because it was not making enough profit. For the next 20 years, the hotel was guarded to minimise the vandalism. But in 2011, the locals began to steal everything...even the elevator! And I can't really imagine how one can steal that :)). All that is left now are concrete walls, roof and floor. Monte Palace received the award for being Portugal's finest hotel in the same week that it closed its door.

Sights from Monte Palace hotel