The contrasts between the beautiful landscape at Sete Cidades and the ruins of a luxury hotel are incredible. It's like two different worlds. At the viewpoint Vista do Reis you will find the ruins of what was once a five star hotel. From this viewpoint you get one of the most incredibly views on the island of São Miguel. Two lakes and a village are situated at the bottom of a gigantic crater. When you turn around you will see the remains of hotel Monte Palace. A huge, grey building in concrete.
To get to Sete Cidades, we drove from the capital Ponta Delgada along the coast to the western tip of the island to a small town called Mosteiros. The small village has a black sand beach and cliffs standing in the sea. From here we drove towards Sete Cidades. Before driving down to the village of Sete Cidades, we made a stop at the viewpoint called Miradouro Vasco, to enjoy the view of the coast and the the cliff surrounding the crater.
The small church in the village. The road leading to the church entrance is lined with beautiful hydrangea.
At the viewpoint Vista do Rei we parked our car. From here there are trails leading down to the lakes and village. It's also possible to follow a circular trail on the crater rim all the way around. Our plan was to do one of these hikes later in the week, but unfortunatly this day was the last sunny day. The weather forecast said rain, more or less the rest of our stay. That's the reason we took this detour on our way to the next hotel in Reiberra Grande. We could unfortunatly not make a hike on this day as it would be dark a few hours later. Before we continued, we turned around to take a look at this 5 star hotel built right on the edge of the crater. What a view these guests have had! We had enough time to take a quick look inside the ruins.
Even though this was a sunny day, the building looked dark and gloomy. There are warning signs about not entering and we did hesitate at the entrance. When we met a couple of others on their way out, we desided to enter. The entrance did’t look very inviting. The floor inside was wet and covered with trash. Wires and broken plaster is hanging from the ceiling. A totally empty building, but covered with graffiti, indicating that there is some human activity here.
Behind the lobby we found both the elvator shaft and the staircase leading to the rooms. But the staircase has no railings and no light. We had to use the flash light on our phones. When Hotel Monte Palace opened in 1989 it was the first hotel in the Azores islands to have five stars. But the hotel was only operational for about a year and a half. I think it closed because of bankruptsy.
I did read somewhere that the hotel once had 80-90 rooms. In addition to restaurants, bar, nightclub etc. While walking the coridors, I went into some of the rooms. On one side the rooms are overlooking Sete Cidades and the lakes. What a view! On the opposite side the rooms have a view towards the Altantic Ocean. The rooms are completely empty. No signs of any furniture. No toilets or bathtups in the rooms. Absolutely nothing but dirt and graffiti.
I ended at last up on the roof. Great views. It was quite reliving to get out into the sun. Lots of graffiti too.
As we explored the building, we did wonder how anyone could have come up with the idea of building a hotel here. The nearest shop is found in the village in the bottom of the crater. Guests staying here would need a car to get around or they would have had to be good walkers. Another thing is the weather. It was a clear and sunny day when we were here. But mostly the area will be covered in fog.
The state of the building did make us aware that this can be a dangerous place. At the same time we tried to imagine what it once looked like. Still, it is quite a fascinating place to spend an hour.
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