Monte Brasil, that piece that hangs off Angra

I really loved having the cows in the yard, but when this one jumped the wire fence and took up residence in the dog's area, it was starting to get out of hand. Lucky for us, the landlord planned to take the cows away, so Ginger once again was free to go to the bathroom. The timing couldn't have been any better since it was almost 24 hours since the dog was able to go. I know you are probably thinking I could walk her, but there is no grass out front, just concrete walls, so I would have to put her in the car at night and drive her somewhere. She has gotten quite used to grass although I did spot her using the...driveway...the other day! So here is one last pic of the cow AKA our lawn mower, who took over the dog area.

Since Ryan was off yesterday we wanted to go out and explore. We decided to head to Monte Brasil, which is that little piece you see sticking off by Angra on the map just below. This houses a major fort and is now home to a park and little zoo area. Below are some pics from the drive around and a little history of this area I found online. There are many hiking trails here but for our first trip there we wanted to scope it out, and it was also raining on and off all day.

The climb up the 205 m high Monte Brasil, the remains of a mostly submerged crater, which resulted from an early underwater eruption and projects about 1,000 m into the sea, is a pleasant and highly rewarding walk through the castle’s ground and the dense vegetation of the wooded slopes of the crater, which provides magnificent panoramic views over the bay and the town of Angra do Heroísmo from its top. Surrounded by four small hills, the area of Monte Brasil, which is actually more of a small peninsula and covers around 63 hectares, comprising also the two islets of Ilhéus das Cabras, has been declared nature reserve. Around the peninsula Monte Brasil peninsula, there are some popular bathing areas, such as Cais da Silveira, located in a deep inlet on its western side, Ponta de São Diogo on the western tip and Ponta de Santo António on its east side.

http://azores-islands.info/uk/places/terceira/monte-brasil.html

This is an amazing view, but this was only the begining of a great journey in this reserve.

As a result of the yucky weather we opted to drive around and get out to take pictures. This is overlooking Angra.

You can see split rock in the distance.

Looking of to the other side towards (I think) Sao Mateus. Both the pink and the blue hotels can be seen from here.

Looking out towards the ocean.

I thought the rock was cool as this is a volcano.

Boy was I glad to find a WC (AKA bathroom) in the park.

I love stopping to view the ocean. not only will this be a great place to hike around, but I am looking forward to packing up the picnic basket and enjoying a nice lunch overlooking the sea.

There are remnants of this castle/fortress all over Monte Brasil. It was the perfect place for a fort. The Portugese military still maintains a presence in this fort, in fact we saw some repelling down the castle wall. It looked like they were filming a movie since it seemed so intense, but they were really just doing exercises of some sort. I thought these cannons were cool.

A monument

Then we kept driving and found the "zoo" area. Lots of birds.

This one was really neat. Native to Southeast China.

Some ducks that escaped the pond!

Then I needed a snack since I realized I hadn't eaten in a while. I love these Calippo pops.

After some serious searching for a parking space and wondering around Angra while stores were actually open, we stopped for lunch. I am so glad we stumbled into Sandoxa, a sandwich shop.

I thought these were kinda cute condiments.

I ordered the veggie burger. It was made from onions, potato and broccoli. There was some lettue, tomato and onion on the bun, as well as...a fried egg! It was actually really good, and the first time I saw a veggie burger in the local community.

Ryan had the equivalent of a Big Mac with a fried egg. I think it was called something similar to the extreme (x-tudo) burger.

We wandered around some more and I finally visited a store that sold cooking things and international foods. It reminded me of Harry and David's. I can't wait to take my sister to see this store. They had amazing looking jams and jellies. I thought their heart shaped pasta that said LOVE was adorable. On the way back to the car we passed the soft serve ice cream machine and we just couldn't resist.

My eyes are always bigger than my stomach! It was good, but no way I could eat it all!

After that we stopped by one of Ryan's coworkers houses for a BBQ but we weren't hungry and so we only stayed for a little bit before heading home and attempting the bread machine adventure...pictures to come!

QUESTIONS: Where is your fave place to hike?

What are your fave toppings for a burger (veggie patty/meat/whatever)?