We spent the day driving the north and central part of the island. Since we knew today would be partly cloudy, we didn’t want to go to the most scenic site today. We had sun, clouds and even a little rain today but the humidity kept it warm. The island is so green and lush. There were volcanoes around the island which created beautiful lakes and mountains. There are also a lot of thermal baths and we even saw one mud bath that had a lot of people in it.

We started off by going to a view point of a Lagoa do Fogo which was a bit foggy. We then drove to a town called Ribera Grande and walked around there. In another town, later in the day, there was also a botanical garden that I had to check out. This was actually where the mud bath was but there were also plenty of other things to walk around and see. I think I just missed some of the plants that were past their peak bloom and I was just a little early for the hydrangeas to be in full bloom. But it was still a nice walk. It was a nice first day driving around the island.

And then I got stuck in a traffic jam on the way back to the hotel. But I don’t mind going slow when I can look at the ocean in the background.