For our final day on the island, we headed to the east coast. First we stopped at a tea plantation that is located on the north east coast. This island has the only two tea plantations in Europe for industrial production. Tea has been grown on the island for 200 years. The climate on the north part of the island is perfect for growing the tea. The common pests of tea plants can’t survive the humid weather so they don’t need to use any chemicals or insecticides to protect the plantations. We visited the Gorreana factory which has been opened since 1880’s. You can do a little tour to see the machinery and watch the production. They mainly export to Portugal, Germany and the US. The plantations are very scenic with the rows of green plants and the Atlantic in the background. Not to mention, it smells good too.

From there, we continued driving to viewpoints along the east coast until we reached the town of Povação in the southeastern corner. This was the town that people first settled to in the 1400’s. It used to be the capital of the island until a large earthquake destroyed the town. The island has been pretty to explore and the roads are very easy to navigate. We fly tomorrow to Lisbon for our final day before flying back to the States.