Excursions / Van Tours / Sightseeing

The Dalberto Pombo Environmental Interpretation Center (CIADP) was the result of the reconstruction of a building at the beginning of the historic area of Vila do Porto. This Center houses the estate of the naturalist Dalberto Pombo, a pioneer in the study of the geological and biological diversity of the island and its main objective is to promote the knowledge of the natural heritage, in a dynamic and interactive way, with an educational and scientific character.

Barreiro da Faneca is an extensive area of arid and clayey terrain, belonging mainly to the geological unit called "Formation of Feteiras", constituting a semi-desert landscape of yellow-reddish color, unique in the Azores.

In its downstream part, the bed of Ribeira do Maloás, in place of Malbusca, presents a waterfall in an extensive outcrop of basaltic columns with 15 to 20 m high and an extension of about 220 m. This prismatic, or columnar, disjunction is associated with a subaero basaltic lava flow from the Pico Alto Volcanic Complex, whose prisms, of notable dimensions, are truncated at the top revealing a hexagonal polygon floor of the “Calçada de Gigantes” type, a volcanic structure world famous from Ireland.

It is one of the largest waterfalls in Portugal, one hundred meters high. At the base of the waterfall there is a shallow lake and, on one of the banks, a place where you can have a picnic.