Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Azores. Mostrar todas as mensagens
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Azores. Mostrar todas as mensagens

terça-feira, 21 de julho de 2009

FLORES




Bad weather in Flores! Rain and a lot of mist over the horizon! Well, not something realy unforseen on these islands in the middle of the Atlantic.
This is my third day in Flores, one day before I left for Corvo, two days since I returned.
In Portuguese "Flores" stands for "flowers" and it just deserves the name. I find a lot of landscapes connections with Madeira: every thing looks green, water is in abboundance, steepy roads are plenty. A difference, anyway: cows are much more present.
On the way from Santa Cruz to the northmost village, Ponta Delgada, I took a detour to visit the Fazenda Forest Park, where peacocks seem to replace the guardians. On the way back the team decides to go inland and we finish stoping three times to observe different "caldeiras", which are old craters turned lakes.
Going south the following day we stop at five of six miradors, the first to see the port of Lajes from the high cliff above. After Lajedo and a high view of the west coast, we are surprised by clouds which block any views, so we pass by Rocha dos Bordões without seeing it; two hours later we return and are then greeted with a view of this vertical grooves lava formation. In the mean time we descended to Fajã Grande to have a look at several very high waterfalls and to get the nearest possible view of the Ilhéu (islet) de Monchique, which is the westmost point of Europe and stopped at lovely Aldeia da Cuada, a small abandoned village now transformed into a tourist resort.

domingo, 19 de julho de 2009

CORVO



I am writing this entry from tiny Corvo Island (425 inhabitants seems to be the official figure and a single old-looking village is clearly the truth). Having arrived yesterday morning from Santa Cruz das Flores with a small safe boat (maximum 12 people; I had no previous booking, but only 11 others had made reservations, so I proudly took the last place) I searched for some guest house or private lodging and was immediately sent to Mr. Rita's COMODORO guest house, which by far overtook my level of expectation. Remember this if and when you decide to come here. Mr. Rita excelled in sympathy and service and proposed me to join a french couple for a visit up to the "Caldeirão" in his open commercial car - which I accepted of course: after all I came also (mainly indeed) for that. So I had a head-against-the-wind fine climbing with fantastic weather: sunshine and blue skies above, majestic blue sea down the mountain. "Caldeirão" is the old crater of the volcano which created the island, nowadays fully dorment. Corvo and Flores do not have active volcanos because they stand on the american tectonic plaque, while the other Azores islands are on the unsettled eurasian one.
I am still enjoying yesterday's offer - because today we got mist and rain, which is quite fair for having a real picture of what the Azores climate is all about. From COMODORO's verandah Flores is now fully invisible, while it was so majestic all the previous day!
Tommorrow is day back to Flores, I hope. The sea was so calm with very gentle waves on the way here (beyond my expectation as well), but this is no guarantee the same will happen tomorrow.
It's wait and see, plus obviously wait and sea and, has the food here is good, it's also wheight and see.