The start of a strong desire...
Years before we set off for the Acores this year, I had a dream visiting these peculiar islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Near the Islands the disappeared "Ancient Land of Atlantis" near Ilha Sao Miguel, mysterious disappearances of ships, big lava eruptions which is the foundation of birth of the Acores. All together a place where it could be "spookey". Furthermore the highest mountain peak of Portugal, "PICO" and the worldwide known harbour Horta on the island Faial. Our journey started in April 2011.
There are two ways to visit the islands, by air or by sailingship. Because at the moment sailing is not our best skill we took the plane from Lisbon. The goal was to visit the Central Group of the Acores, Terceira, Sao Jorge, Pico, Graciosa and Faial. Because there was no transport to Graciosa, sadly we could'nt visit this lovely small island.
For walkings on all the islands there is a very good walking guide book. You can inquire information at http://www.michael-muller-verlag-de/
General info: Because the island government has the opinion that public buses are not connected with the arrival time-table of airplanes and boat connections, you have to take a taxi which is a rather expensive way of transport. Fee's between 10 and 25 euro's for relative short distances are no exception!!
Ilha da Terceira
We arrived at Terceira, the third discovered island through Vicente de Lagos in 1445. At first Spain occupied the the island but from 1642 it belongs to Portugal. The most important cities are Praia da Vittoria, Angro do Heroismo and Biscoitos. With 50.000 cows and 55.000 inhabitants it is famous for its cheese and butter. Export all over the world. The city capital is Angro do Heroismo ( http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/angra_do_hero) which is on the list of the UNESCO. From the 1920's the harbour lost importance because of the fact that ships could cross the Atlantic Ocean in one time and there was no longer need of stops on the Acores. In 1980 a heavy earthquake destroyed a part of the city which was later on rebuild in the style. A small but beautifull kept city where you can all the old treasuries in old building, excellent library (free internet) and mount Brazil, the mountain before the city.
Biscoites is interesting because of the vinyards, white wine. The flavour of the salty ocean in combination which the lava soil gives the wine a very tasty and beautiful smell. Biscoitos has been named after the structure of the lava when it coagulate.
Walkings trails:
Raminho-Serreta; A walk of 3,5 hrs. Raminho-Silveira Grande-Pico do Carneiro-Mata da Serreta- Ponta do Queimado-Serreta. Signs are excellent to follow. Highest point is 700 m.
Not difficult walk, beautiful sights to the ocean. Take your water and sandwich because there is no cafe or restaurant underway.
Misterios Negros: A walk of 2,5 hrs. Walking route "Gruta do Natal - Pico do Gaspar - Misterios Negros"., PRC 1 TER; highlight, crater Pico do Gaspar and beautifull oversight of the island.
Ilha do Sao Jorge
Because of the time of year there is no direct boat connection between Terceira and Sao Jorge. That meant we had to go by airplane to Faial and from there back with boats to Sao Jorge which took us a day. From May until September there are regular boat connections between all the islands, due to good weather conditions. Don't be surprised if you are stuck for a day or two because of bad weather or strong winds.
Sao Jorge, the island of the famous cheese. Export all over the world. 56 Km long and 8Km wide, beautiful island for walking. Small villages, Velas (city hall) and Calheta and with nearly 9.000 inhabitants. Highest mountain "Pico Esperanca". Origin island, not a lot of tourists but excellent for walking. Take a visit to the ultra modern cheese factory on the island at the backyard of the village of Velas.
Highlights:
The "Fajas" are famous due to the fact that coagulate lava was formed on the edge of the cliffs. Because of the virtile land an agriculture area had been developed. The "Fajas" developed a micro climate and because of that in the old days there was an agriculture business of bananas, tabacco, figues and coffee. Nowadays most of them have been desolated and is the famous shellfish "Lapas" the only thing worth mentioning. (Recipee: Open shellfish Lapa, put some butter on it, place it in the oven/grill and leave it there for a couple of minutes, a glass of PICO white wine and you have the best meal of the world)
Walking trails:
Percurso Pedestre PR 4 SJO: Pico das Calderinhas-Pico de Pedro-Pico do Carvao-Pico Verde-Morro Pelado-Pico da Esperanca-Pico do Areeiro-Pico Pinheiro-Norte Pequeno; Duration of the walk, 5,5 hrs. Also here, take sufficient water and lunch; Raincoats should be in your rucksack.
Highest point Pico da Esparanca, 1053M. A rather easy walk but because of the long duration, start early.
Percurso Pedestra PR 5 SJO; Ermida-Faja de Alem-Ermida. Duration 3 hrs. At the coast side of Faja de Alem up cliffs again, this is rather steep. Beautifull landscap on the Faja because of the lava.
Percurso Pedestra PR 3 SJO; Faja dos Vimes-Faja dos Bodes-Lourais-Baia da Areia-Faja de Sao Joao. Duration 3,5 hrs. From the starting point there is an uphill steepness from zero to 500m during a couple of hundred meters of the track. After that rather easy but beautifull walk.
Percurso Pedestra PR 1 SJO; Serra do Topa-Caldeira da Cima-Faja da Caldeira de Santo Cristo-Faja do Belo-Faja dos Cubres; Duration 3 hrs. Not an easy track because of the steepness at the beginning and the end.
Ilha do Pico
The most impressive part of the island is the mountain "Pico", 2351m high and because of that the highest point of Portugal. Visable from all the islands in the central group of islands. In 1963 was the last big eruption. The second big attraction is the spermwhale, one of the largest specie of all the whale family. Eating 1000kg of cuttle-fish (inktvis) per day. Can reach a length of ca. 20M and dives up to 2000m to catch the cuttle-fish. Stays all year around the Acores; one of the few whales who has teeth to digest the fish. Togehter with different species of Dolphins an absolute impressive attraction. There a strict rules set up by the Acores government for the boats to visit the whale and dolphin spots.
Third important activity is wine agriculture, especially white wine. One of the first settlers came from the north of Portugal and Madeira. There was already knowledge in those areas to cultivate grapes. Beautiful of taste, fruity, fresh. Because of the lava soil a very special taste. With nearly 15.000 inhabitants not a very crowdy place. Madalena is the capital city. Other major villages, Sao Rocque do Pico, Lajas do Pico, Piedade.
Highlights to visit: In Sao Joao the Museum of "Cachalotes (another word for sperm whale) e Lulas" owned by the family Clarks originally from Cornwall. A biologist who spent his whole life doing research of the spermwhale. (http://www.bienal-baleias.org/)
Ponta Negra, a tiny village where the original houses constructed from lava stone still exicsts and restored.
Laja do Pico where a whale museum can be visited giving an oversight of the whale capturing in the early days ( last captured whale was in 1958, from that time it was forbidden).
A whale/Dolphin trip from the port of Madalena. There are two tourist boat centres where you can make a booking for half a day. Prices more or less 58EUR per person.
Walking trails: Criacao Velha-Monte-Pocinho-Moinho do Frade-Criacao; Duration 2,5 hrs. Gives a nice overview of the wine terraces within the lava stone cubbles. Partly through the forest.
Sao Rocque-Santo Antionio-Cabrito-Ponta Negra-Arcos-Lajido-Ponte Cachoro-Madalena do Pico; Duration ca. 5 hrs. Beautifull coastline walk with different kinds of landscap and old history houses.
Pico trail: The trail is a very difficult one. You start at Casa da Montanha where you have to list yourself at the "Bombeiros" post in case something should happen. It is important that you will hire a guide due to suddenly changing weather conditions and a safe return. The sign posts on the way to the top are not alway visible, so you might easy get lost.
Because of the bad weather we were not able to climb the mountain during our stay for a week but the information above I did get from a local touring guide. It is my deepest conviction that his advise to hire a guide was not out of commercial reasons but pure of safety.
Whale watchting: However the weather and season was not the best moment for whale watching we succeed to getting very close to three Humback whales. It was fantastic moment to watch this enorm animal swimming and diving so easy as a ballet dancer. To catch them for a photo was'nt that easy because the boat had to keep quite a distrance from the whales so they would'nt be disturbed. Only the view was for us a fantastic moment.
Ilha Faial
This was the last island we visited. Famous for its harbour Horta where the sailors from Europe en from the Caribbean meet when the have a cross-over for the Atlantic Ocean. The meeting place is Peter's Cafe. In the old days the cafe was owned by Jose Azevedo (nickname Peter). Because there was no telephone nor cables traffice between America and Europe, this cafe was transformed by Jose as a "postoffice" to leave notes, money for fellow sailors who were crossing the Atlantic. Nowadays is a symbolic place where sailors from all over the world meet.
In 1450 ontdekt, vlak na het eiland Pico door Jacome de Bruges. In 1466 there was Fleming (Vlaming) Josse van Hurtere who came to "ilha da ventura" as it was called in those days to develop the island. Later on the name was changed in Fayal and since the 18th century it is Faial. Famous is the eruption of the vulcano Capelinhos in 1957 which had a duration of one year. At the end of 1958 the island had grown 2 square km. Because of that eruption and the devastation of a part of the island people emigrated to Canada and America. The largest population outside Acores are in the neighbourhood of Boston and California.
The other catastrophy was the earthquake in 1998 where 50 people died on the westside of the island.
Highlights: The city of Horta with the harbour; The crater (caldeira) on the top of the island. The crater was filled with water until the earthquake in 1998. Within days the water had been gone because of a leak in the crater. The most fantastic place to watch for the eruption of a vulcano under water and eventuely lead to a new piece of land is Capelinhos. A marvelous museum, fantastic designed by Nuno Ribeiro. The museum is build in the mountain slope of the vulcano, totally underground. The museum has an enormous collection of films of the arise of the vulcano, migration of people and documentaries of the arise of the whole Acores.
Walking trails: A walk around the crater Caldera of Faial with special species of mosses down at the bottom of the crater.
Was it worth visiting? At least it was a special feeling being in the middle of the ocean, no land within 2000km from Europe and Caribbean. Special people whom are trying to make a good living and above all, islanders mentality. Friendly, a little "pigheaded", making their own decisions. A fantastic well protected area for sea life and nature.
I wish you a very adverturer and interesting trip to these islands, ate logo.
Years before we set off for the Acores this year, I had a dream visiting these peculiar islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Near the Islands the disappeared "Ancient Land of Atlantis" near Ilha Sao Miguel, mysterious disappearances of ships, big lava eruptions which is the foundation of birth of the Acores. All together a place where it could be "spookey". Furthermore the highest mountain peak of Portugal, "PICO" and the worldwide known harbour Horta on the island Faial. Our journey started in April 2011.
There are two ways to visit the islands, by air or by sailingship. Because at the moment sailing is not our best skill we took the plane from Lisbon. The goal was to visit the Central Group of the Acores, Terceira, Sao Jorge, Pico, Graciosa and Faial. Because there was no transport to Graciosa, sadly we could'nt visit this lovely small island.
For walkings on all the islands there is a very good walking guide book. You can inquire information at http://www.michael-muller-verlag-de/
General info: Because the island government has the opinion that public buses are not connected with the arrival time-table of airplanes and boat connections, you have to take a taxi which is a rather expensive way of transport. Fee's between 10 and 25 euro's for relative short distances are no exception!!
Ilha da Terceira
We arrived at Terceira, the third discovered island through Vicente de Lagos in 1445. At first Spain occupied the the island but from 1642 it belongs to Portugal. The most important cities are Praia da Vittoria, Angro do Heroismo and Biscoitos. With 50.000 cows and 55.000 inhabitants it is famous for its cheese and butter. Export all over the world. The city capital is Angro do Heroismo ( http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/angra_do_hero) which is on the list of the UNESCO. From the 1920's the harbour lost importance because of the fact that ships could cross the Atlantic Ocean in one time and there was no longer need of stops on the Acores. In 1980 a heavy earthquake destroyed a part of the city which was later on rebuild in the style. A small but beautifull kept city where you can all the old treasuries in old building, excellent library (free internet) and mount Brazil, the mountain before the city.
Biscoites is interesting because of the vinyards, white wine. The flavour of the salty ocean in combination which the lava soil gives the wine a very tasty and beautiful smell. Biscoitos has been named after the structure of the lava when it coagulate.
Walkings trails:
Raminho-Serreta; A walk of 3,5 hrs. Raminho-Silveira Grande-Pico do Carneiro-Mata da Serreta- Ponta do Queimado-Serreta. Signs are excellent to follow. Highest point is 700 m.
Not difficult walk, beautiful sights to the ocean. Take your water and sandwich because there is no cafe or restaurant underway.
Misterios Negros: A walk of 2,5 hrs. Walking route "Gruta do Natal - Pico do Gaspar - Misterios Negros"., PRC 1 TER; highlight, crater Pico do Gaspar and beautifull oversight of the island.
Ilha do Sao Jorge
Because of the time of year there is no direct boat connection between Terceira and Sao Jorge. That meant we had to go by airplane to Faial and from there back with boats to Sao Jorge which took us a day. From May until September there are regular boat connections between all the islands, due to good weather conditions. Don't be surprised if you are stuck for a day or two because of bad weather or strong winds.
Sao Jorge, the island of the famous cheese. Export all over the world. 56 Km long and 8Km wide, beautiful island for walking. Small villages, Velas (city hall) and Calheta and with nearly 9.000 inhabitants. Highest mountain "Pico Esperanca". Origin island, not a lot of tourists but excellent for walking. Take a visit to the ultra modern cheese factory on the island at the backyard of the village of Velas.
Highlights:
The "Fajas" are famous due to the fact that coagulate lava was formed on the edge of the cliffs. Because of the virtile land an agriculture area had been developed. The "Fajas" developed a micro climate and because of that in the old days there was an agriculture business of bananas, tabacco, figues and coffee. Nowadays most of them have been desolated and is the famous shellfish "Lapas" the only thing worth mentioning. (Recipee: Open shellfish Lapa, put some butter on it, place it in the oven/grill and leave it there for a couple of minutes, a glass of PICO white wine and you have the best meal of the world)
Walking trails:
Percurso Pedestre PR 4 SJO: Pico das Calderinhas-Pico de Pedro-Pico do Carvao-Pico Verde-Morro Pelado-Pico da Esperanca-Pico do Areeiro-Pico Pinheiro-Norte Pequeno; Duration of the walk, 5,5 hrs. Also here, take sufficient water and lunch; Raincoats should be in your rucksack.
Highest point Pico da Esparanca, 1053M. A rather easy walk but because of the long duration, start early.
Percurso Pedestra PR 5 SJO; Ermida-Faja de Alem-Ermida. Duration 3 hrs. At the coast side of Faja de Alem up cliffs again, this is rather steep. Beautifull landscap on the Faja because of the lava.
Percurso Pedestra PR 3 SJO; Faja dos Vimes-Faja dos Bodes-Lourais-Baia da Areia-Faja de Sao Joao. Duration 3,5 hrs. From the starting point there is an uphill steepness from zero to 500m during a couple of hundred meters of the track. After that rather easy but beautifull walk.
Percurso Pedestra PR 1 SJO; Serra do Topa-Caldeira da Cima-Faja da Caldeira de Santo Cristo-Faja do Belo-Faja dos Cubres; Duration 3 hrs. Not an easy track because of the steepness at the beginning and the end.
Ilha do Pico
The most impressive part of the island is the mountain "Pico", 2351m high and because of that the highest point of Portugal. Visable from all the islands in the central group of islands. In 1963 was the last big eruption. The second big attraction is the spermwhale, one of the largest specie of all the whale family. Eating 1000kg of cuttle-fish (inktvis) per day. Can reach a length of ca. 20M and dives up to 2000m to catch the cuttle-fish. Stays all year around the Acores; one of the few whales who has teeth to digest the fish. Togehter with different species of Dolphins an absolute impressive attraction. There a strict rules set up by the Acores government for the boats to visit the whale and dolphin spots.
Third important activity is wine agriculture, especially white wine. One of the first settlers came from the north of Portugal and Madeira. There was already knowledge in those areas to cultivate grapes. Beautiful of taste, fruity, fresh. Because of the lava soil a very special taste. With nearly 15.000 inhabitants not a very crowdy place. Madalena is the capital city. Other major villages, Sao Rocque do Pico, Lajas do Pico, Piedade.
Highlights to visit: In Sao Joao the Museum of "Cachalotes (another word for sperm whale) e Lulas" owned by the family Clarks originally from Cornwall. A biologist who spent his whole life doing research of the spermwhale. (http://www.bienal-baleias.org/)
Ponta Negra, a tiny village where the original houses constructed from lava stone still exicsts and restored.
Laja do Pico where a whale museum can be visited giving an oversight of the whale capturing in the early days ( last captured whale was in 1958, from that time it was forbidden).
A whale/Dolphin trip from the port of Madalena. There are two tourist boat centres where you can make a booking for half a day. Prices more or less 58EUR per person.
Walking trails: Criacao Velha-Monte-Pocinho-Moinho do Frade-Criacao; Duration 2,5 hrs. Gives a nice overview of the wine terraces within the lava stone cubbles. Partly through the forest.
Sao Rocque-Santo Antionio-Cabrito-Ponta Negra-Arcos-Lajido-Ponte Cachoro-Madalena do Pico; Duration ca. 5 hrs. Beautifull coastline walk with different kinds of landscap and old history houses.
Pico trail: The trail is a very difficult one. You start at Casa da Montanha where you have to list yourself at the "Bombeiros" post in case something should happen. It is important that you will hire a guide due to suddenly changing weather conditions and a safe return. The sign posts on the way to the top are not alway visible, so you might easy get lost.
Because of the bad weather we were not able to climb the mountain during our stay for a week but the information above I did get from a local touring guide. It is my deepest conviction that his advise to hire a guide was not out of commercial reasons but pure of safety.
Whale watchting: However the weather and season was not the best moment for whale watching we succeed to getting very close to three Humback whales. It was fantastic moment to watch this enorm animal swimming and diving so easy as a ballet dancer. To catch them for a photo was'nt that easy because the boat had to keep quite a distrance from the whales so they would'nt be disturbed. Only the view was for us a fantastic moment.
Ilha Faial
This was the last island we visited. Famous for its harbour Horta where the sailors from Europe en from the Caribbean meet when the have a cross-over for the Atlantic Ocean. The meeting place is Peter's Cafe. In the old days the cafe was owned by Jose Azevedo (nickname Peter). Because there was no telephone nor cables traffice between America and Europe, this cafe was transformed by Jose as a "postoffice" to leave notes, money for fellow sailors who were crossing the Atlantic. Nowadays is a symbolic place where sailors from all over the world meet.
In 1450 ontdekt, vlak na het eiland Pico door Jacome de Bruges. In 1466 there was Fleming (Vlaming) Josse van Hurtere who came to "ilha da ventura" as it was called in those days to develop the island. Later on the name was changed in Fayal and since the 18th century it is Faial. Famous is the eruption of the vulcano Capelinhos in 1957 which had a duration of one year. At the end of 1958 the island had grown 2 square km. Because of that eruption and the devastation of a part of the island people emigrated to Canada and America. The largest population outside Acores are in the neighbourhood of Boston and California.
The other catastrophy was the earthquake in 1998 where 50 people died on the westside of the island.
Highlights: The city of Horta with the harbour; The crater (caldeira) on the top of the island. The crater was filled with water until the earthquake in 1998. Within days the water had been gone because of a leak in the crater. The most fantastic place to watch for the eruption of a vulcano under water and eventuely lead to a new piece of land is Capelinhos. A marvelous museum, fantastic designed by Nuno Ribeiro. The museum is build in the mountain slope of the vulcano, totally underground. The museum has an enormous collection of films of the arise of the vulcano, migration of people and documentaries of the arise of the whole Acores.
Walking trails: A walk around the crater Caldera of Faial with special species of mosses down at the bottom of the crater.
Was it worth visiting? At least it was a special feeling being in the middle of the ocean, no land within 2000km from Europe and Caribbean. Special people whom are trying to make a good living and above all, islanders mentality. Friendly, a little "pigheaded", making their own decisions. A fantastic well protected area for sea life and nature.
I wish you a very adverturer and interesting trip to these islands, ate logo.
