Furnas do Enxofre — Attraction in Angra do Heroísmo

It’s no Furnas like on Sao Miguel, but still amazing to think you’re staring into the very guts of the earth, sulfurous steam rolling up from the black moss encased chasms. We visited just after torrential rains, and the pathway is treacherous. Wear boots or hiking gear even for the short - 1km - trail. The area is a protected environmental reserve as well so please please stay on the trails: there’s flora here found nowhere else on earth, and it’s been living quietly for 1000s of years in peace and harmony with the steam vents without your dumba$$ feet stepping all over it ( looking again at you, Brazilian teen...

The 2nd stop of our volcano day tours. The sulfuric vents are an important part of the volcano experience and should not be missed because of the other 2 show stoppers! (Walking INSIDE a Lava tube and a volcano!) This is definitely a nice walk OUTSIDE through some wonderful local flora and fauna as you approach the sulfuric vents. The views are amazing... again! We observed some Holly bushes that have evolved through time on this island of no predators, and so the leaves have lost 4 of their 5 pointy tips! Amazing in itself to see something like this. It is quite beautiful here as you stroll the park!...

These are so-called fumarole sources. The lava is boiling under the ground, and in some places smoke or steam breaks through to the surface. The temperature of the ground around such a haze is 100 °C, and the haze itself is 130 °C. It smells like sulphur around. It smells like a match when the sulphur head is on. More like a pleasant one. Looks quite unusual. The guide has told us the story of how some locals came here with something to cook on such a spring. Not only it is forbidden by law (a protected area) but also you can boil yourself if you're in the wrong place. Don't do...