Sao Jorge Azores: Rosais to Topo

Day three on the Sao Jorge island started out similar to the previous day. It was rainy and over cast outside and we struggled in the morning to come up with something to do for the day. We had planned to go out for another long hike but neither of us wanted to repeat yesterday's adventure of toughing out the elements and getting soaking wet. Our shoes and all of our hiking gear were still drenched from the day before. There wasn't a good way to dry out our clothing at the Airbnb and we had no other choice but to hang everything up in our cabin. The windows inside were slick with moisture in the morning from all of the dampness in the room.

But there wasn't much else to do on the island other than be outdoors so we donned our wet shoes and gear and headed out for the day. Instead of a long hike in the mountainous region like we originally planned, we decided to do more of a mini hike with a scenic look out. We drove out to the far western tip of the Island to an abandoned lighthouse located just a little ways passed the town of Rosais. The site was called Vigia da Baleia.

Getting there was a little interesting actually. The site was very isolated and after Rosais the road was no longer paved. We drove for quite some distance on dirt roads in the rain with very spotty data. Our GPS kept cutting in and out the whole way.

The dirt roads connected the different farm pastures of the area and criss crossed each other like hatch work. It crossed our minds if our destination was actually going to be worth all of the trouble. We carried on.

Eventually we made it to our destination and after parking our car we headed up to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse compound was gated with large sign out front barring entry.

We weren't about to break the law and trespass in a foreign country so we didn't go in and explore or do the Urbex thing. The site had a weird military compound vibe about it but it appeared to be completely abandoned.

I noticed a path off to the side and we decided to see where that lead.

It basically followed the perimeter of the compound, which was surrounded by a low stone wall.

We got some interesting views of the lighthouse rising high above the tree line and the ocean in the opposite direction. I took a lot of photos of the lighthouse and true to my nature, I couldn't decide which I liked best so of course I posted them all.

The photos of the flowers at the begining of the post were taken on the path leading around the lighthouse as well. Filler material.

The path eventually stopped at the farthest tip of the Island.

It opened up to a large steep cliff with rocks and crashing waves below.

The island is said to resemble a sleeping dragon, so I guess this spot would be the tip of the dragons snout.

It was quite windy on the cliff so after looking out for a few minutes we made our way out of there and over to a lookout post on a hill looking over the greater landscape.

The view probably would have been quite nice if there was decent visibility.

After that little adventure we decided to drive to the opposite end of the island to the town of Topo.

We basically drove tip to tip of Sao Jorge and it only took us about an hour total. That's how small the island is.

There wasn't a whole lot to see in Topo but we had time and this was something to do for the latter half of the day.

We saw another swimming hole there but the weather wasn't very nice as you can see. Certainly nothing that would make us want to get in the water, thats for sure.

There was a walking path that appeared to follow the coastline but with the rain we didn't feel like going off on an adventure and exploring.

We didn't stray too far from our vehicle.

We basically just walked down to the swimming area and back around the tip of the Island along a trail in a mini loop.

Looking out over the water we saw a small island just a few hundred meters off the coast. I couldn't find its name if it has one.

It looked like there may have been sheep or cows grazing on it but I have no idea how they got out there or how they would get back. Maybe there is a land bridge during low tide? Or maybe I was just hallucinating the animals there?

Anyway, heading back up a staircase brought us back to our car.

We popped into a small restaurant at the parking lot and had a snack before heading back to our Airbnb.

The days events and activities weren't the most exciting during our trip. They were more of a "make the most of the day despite the weather" sort of thing. It was probably my least favorite day of the trip aside from our travel days, but nonetheless it was neat driving across the entire island in just an hour. Not everyday of a vacation has to be exciting I suppose.

That's all I have to say. Thanks for reading.