Beauties of Azores: magnificent Terra Nostra Park in Furnas

Hi there my Steemian friends and followers!

Welcome to my special weekly series called Beauties of Azores that was created by me to raise awareness of the extraordinary charm of a captivating Portuguese archipelago known as the Azores.

With all the crazy things happening on our blockchain lately and some extra call-to-action posts that I had the urge to publish last week, I had to skip this series but today, I am finally coming with another episode of it :)

After showing you the captivating charm of the Furnas Lake in this post two weeks ago, I am going to introduce you to another natural gem of Furnas in this episode that will be dedicated to the spectacular Terra Nostra Park.

Located in Furnas, a picturesque little town lying on the bottom of a giant volcanic crater now known as the Furnas Valley, the Terra Nostra Park is a renowned botanical garden and thermal spa. A large thermal pool with a characteristic color and smell of the water, is one of the first things that most visitors get to see as it is situated right next to the main entrance gate.

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One of the most dominant landmarks of the park, the thermal pool was built as early as in 1780 by Thomas Hickling, a rich merchant from Boston who was an Honorary American Consul on the island back in the 18th century.

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The water in the thermal pool is very warm due to the geothermal activity of the Furnas area and it is also remarkably rich in minerals, which makes it popular with tourists who come here to chill out and enjoy the healing properties of the water.

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Unfortunately, I didn´t bring my swim shorts with me so I could´t jump in the pool but the astonishing vegetation of the Terra Nostra Park really made up for it. I was particularly impressed by the giant ferns that made me feel like I just traveled back in time to the dinosaur era.

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Some ferns are actually native to the Azores archipelago but the Terra Nostra Park boasts a unique collection of fern species from all over the world, totaling at almost 300 specimens of a variety of different species and cultivars including Adiantum, Asplenium, Cibotium, Deparia, Microlepia, Pteris, Sadleria and much more.

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Besides the ferns, the park´s area of 12.5 ha is covered with hundreds of other interesting plants and trees. There are entire sections of the park dedicated to just certain plants such as Bromeliads, Camellias, Cycads, Azaleas etc.

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In the central part of the park, there is a little lookout tower that offers some nice views of the complex. I am pretty sure the green field below the tower is blooming with colorful flowers at some point throughout the year.

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The park is also equipped with a number of comfortable benches so that the visitors can sit down and relax a bit while enjoying the omnipresent greenery, flower fragrance and fresh, humid air.

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The abundance of little streams, ponds and lakes only makes the place more charming and wild. Some of them resemble the large thermal pool as they are also fed by the hot springs.

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One of the lakes has a little island in the middle of it and there is a series of steps (firmly anchored to the bottom) leading to it. We stopped by this lake for a while as that was where we had a snack and to our surprise, some visitors were actually afraid to venture to the island.

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But it´s not just the visitors of the park who appreciate the presence of all those bodies of water. There are some local residents there too who love to go for a swim and they don´t even mind the unusually warm temperature of the water :)

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Visiting the Terra Nostra Park was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Furnas. Although the park is one of the most famous places on the island and thus attracts a lot of tourists, it is spacious enough not to give the impression of being crowded (at least now in the low season). The park is greatly landscaped and incredibly rich in vegetation species so nature lovers, botany fans and outdoor enthusiasts can easily spend long hours just roaming around.

The Terra Nostra Park is open every day from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. The admission fee is 8 EUR for adults and 4 EUR for kids from the age of 3 to 10. Kinds under the age of 3 can visit the park for free.

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I hope you enjoyed this episode of my Beauties of Azores series that was dedicated to the Terra Nostra Park, a beautiful botanical garden and thermal spa complex found on the Sao Miguel Island. All of the photos featured in this post were taken by me.

If you want to learn more about this exquisite Portuguese archipelago and its charms, stay tuned for the next episodes of my Beauties of Azores series ;)

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This post was created by me for the Steem blockchain exclusively.

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Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about #nature, #animals, #ecology, #crypto, #traveling, #photography and discovering secrets and beauties of the #world, feel free to follow me as these are the topics I mostly write about. Have a wonderful day and keep on Steeming! :)