This was our first day of crossing the island from the south to the north, so some new territory for us today.
Our plan was to make a stop at Seixal to see the black beach, then visit Ilheus da Ribeira da Janela, enjoy a swim in the Porto Moniz lava pools, have lunch and then head towards Achada de Cruz to take a trip down the side of the cliffs on board a cable car.
The road trip took us through the centre of the island towards Sao Vincente before turning west along the coastline towards Porto Moniz.
We hadn’t explored the island much at this point and I thought this would be a coastal drive but the visual nature of the drive is interrupted often by having to go through the many tunnels that dot the island. Right before entering most tunnels, I could see exits off towards the old highway but on several of these, I could also see boulders scattered across the road which had fallen from the cliffs above and chose to fight my inclination to see if I could drive along the route.
I stopped more than once to convince myself it wasn’t a good idea.
Ten minutes past Seixal, we spotted the rocks along the coast and knew we were getting close. Couple of minutes later, we turned off ER 101 onto ER 209 and rolled down into the parking lot, which was a decent size lot and equipped with restroom facilities.
There are two ways to get to the beach where you can get a good close look at these remarkable rock formations in the ocean; One option is to go up a set of stairs, which leads you through a short tunnel to a viewpoint from where you can see the rock formations from a bit of higher perspective than from the beach. The other option is to walk around the corner by following the path out of the parking lot which will lead you directly onto the rocky beachfront. I assume that the higher path was built for days when the tide is high and the swell is rough.
The name Ilheus da Ribeira da Janela translates to Islets of the Janela River, which is the river you will see running into the Atlantic Ocean. We spent about a half hour here, wandering unsteadily along the beach rocks and enjoying the sunshine before heading back towards our car, where we headed off to Porto Moniz to have a swim in the Lava Pools and lunch.
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