Continue reading »]]> Santa Maria Island is the most southern and the warmest of the Azores Archipelago. It is like a little Portugal with a tropical climate in 97 square kilometres in the middle of the immense Atlantic Ocean. The West reminds the landscapes and plains of the Alentejo and the Algarve; the East has mountains full of vegetation similar to the North region of continental Portugal and to the other islands of Azores.

The exact data is not known but everything suggests that Diogo Silves, a Portuguese navigator, discovered it in 1427. What is known is that Gonçalo Velho Cabral has arrived to Santa Maria with a dozen crew fellows on 15 of August 1432, day dedicated to Our Lady of Assumption. In honour to the Virgin Mary, he has given the island her name, Santa Maria. A few years later came the first mainlanders to Praia de Lobos, followed by many others, especially from the southern regions of Portugal. The houses architecture is very similar to the one we encounter in Alentejo and Algarve, clearly observed by their chimneys.

Santa Maria was also port of call in Christopher Colombo’s return from his first journey to the Americas. The legend claims the reason for that stop was to for fill the promise to pray to Our Lady in the first land he would see. After he has landed it is said, he was captured and remained governor’s prisoner until he explained the reasons for his scale. It was in the village called Anjos where today the natural swimming pools visited by little schools of fishes are the delights of all.

You will notice when you arrive in Santa Maria that almost everyone speaks English. A good part of the inhabitants of the island migrated to the United States and Canada in the 60’s or has family there. The airport, initially built by the Americans as a logistic base in World War II, is another reason and continues being one of the pillars of the economy of the island, developing commerce and tourism; You will also notice that the island is very clean and its inhabitants proudly keep their houses well painted and traditional basalt garden walls bordered white with detail.

Although it is small, the island has a lot to see and do and consider at least one week so you can enjoy the most of it. Vila do Porto is the only municipality. The village goes from the Marina in nearly a single street 2 miles long, but there you will find everything you may need: pharmacy, restaurants, markets, stores and services. In Vila do Porto the main attractions are the medieval buildings, like the Forte de São Braz, a fortress and the several churches of the village. Also include the Centro de Interpretação Ambiental Dalberto Pombo in your visit plan and discover some more about species and fossils found on the island.

Other smaller towns sprinkle the island with the white of the houses and their stripes around the doors and windows traditionally collared differently depending on their village.

Close to Anjos, on the North side of Santa Maria you will find the Barreiro da Faneca, also known as Red Desert, a protected area of red clay soil with basaltic lava and volcanic ash, which developed local pottery and was largely exported to the neighbour island of São Miguel.

The two only sandy beaches on the island are at Praia Formosa and Baía de São Lourenço. Praia Formosa is just a couple of miles from Vila do Porto and is a long stripe of golden sand. Baía de São Lourenço has also natural swimming pools where you can swim with the fishes and an amazing landscape of typical vines confined in basalt corral walls. The beaches and natural pools of Santa Maria Island have lifeguard surveillance during summertime.

In Malbusca just next to Praia Formosa, stands the Ribeira dos Maloás, a small water stream, with a 15 meter waterfall, about 220 meters from the ocean. It is one of the most beautiful visible remaining of the volcanic origin of Santa Maria. To get there you have a pedestrian route signalled as Calçada do Gigante, the name locals give it, which means giant’s path.

The southernmost point of the island is called Ponta do Castelo with the Gonçalo Velho Lighthouse, next to Maia village. The Vigia da Baleia viewpoint is just above the lighthouse and one can enjoy the magnificent ocean view. It is part of a viewpoint net used to search for whales, when hunting them was legal, to process in the factory close by. Now these viewpoints are used to locate whales and dolphins for cetaceans watch boat tours. There are several operators that can take you. Best time is August to late September when the water is warmer.

Maia is a village in a small bay between steep cliffs coloured by a puzzle of vines in corrals and the intense blue sea. It has also natural swimming pools and is the place to see the Aveiro waterfall.

Don’t forget to visit Pico Alto, the highest point of the island. From its 590 metres you have a 360 degrees astonishing view. You will also be amazed by the intense smell of the flowers and trees and the different colours of Santa Maria: the blue and turquoise from the ocean, the gold and brown from the West plains and the several tones of green sprinkled with yellow flowers from the vegetation of the East.

There are a few very well kept forest parks around the island where you can spend a wonderful day surrounded by green lush vegetation and trees, like the Fontinhas Forest Park close to Pico das Cavacas, or Valeverde Forest Park, near Vila do Porto. Parks in Santa Maria have barbecue facilities that are usually full of wood ready to cook your lunch .There are also signalled pedestrian routes passing through them.

Most of the islands traditions and festivities are religious with special devotion to Our Lady of Assumption, patron of Santa Maria and the Holy Ghost, which has a beautiful baroque church in Santo Espiríto village. Festivities go from April to September in different places of Santa Maria and if you get the chance to go to one “Império” don’t miss it. It is a religious tradition that includes the crowning of a child as emperor of the Holy Ghost and the free distribution of the Império soups, a typical soup served with a especial bread.

There is also more contemporaneous festivities such as an annual music festival in August, the “Marés d’Agosto”, that attracts lots of tourists to Praia Formosa.

Santa Maria attractions don’t stay just in the island. There are three islets around with a very important role in the nesting of endemic and migrating birds. The Ilhéu do Romeiro also deservers a visit for its interior port and interesting stalagmites and stalactites formations.

Further, at 37 kilometres from Santa Maria, the Ilhéu das Formigas is a set of eight islets with a lighthouse and a reef bank called Dollabarat. The surrounding waters are ecologically rich and are shelter and preferred place for breeding and feeding of many species including sharks, turtles and several cetaceans. Several operators can take you to Formigas and Dollabarat for a boat tour or for diving. Santa Maria has hotels in Vila do Porto, several rural tourism accommodation units spread around the island and camping facilities at Praia Formosa. Food is generally good and tasty and people are incredibly friendly.

Don’t miss trying the famous Santa Maria’s melons and biscuits. There are several activities to include on you must do list such as trekking, canyoning, para-sail, surf, windsurf, sports fishing and definitely diving.

It seems that the world crisis hasn’t arrived in Santa Maria. You can feel it in the children’s laughter, in the adult’s mood which is generally nice and polite, in the “good mornings” on the street, in the old ladies that don’t miss a good conversation and especially in the honest smiles you get everywhere you go. Safety is not yet a concern and you can still hitch hike anywhere in the island if needed. It’s a good way to get to know some local people, good stories, places to see and things to do.

-Where to stay in Santa Maria Island.

-Where to eat.

-How to get there.

-More about diving in Santa Maria Island.

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Graciosa means gracious and no other name would fit so perfectly this small volcanic Azorean island. Arriving from any European country you will have the feeling you are in some topical place with a soft hot and wet climate. Mass tourism hasn’t reached the island and is the perfect place to have a deserved rest. The island has its own rhythm. To enjoy the most try to adapt that rhythm and try not to be very demanding with the service as the islanders are still engaging tourism as an economic activity. Santa Cruz da Graciosa is the capital of the only municipality of this 62km2. Monte da Senhora da Ajuda has the most astonishing view overlooking the city and the local bullfight plaza as well as the endless Atlantic Ocean. Praia is the most famous beach of the island. The only sand beach has dark sand but still, is very comfortable. From the beach you see the port where the ferry and all cargo ships stop to provide the islanders with everything they need from the main islands. The windmills are a must see. Most have been fully recovered and there is a couple that can be rented for holiday. The houses are mostly made with volcanic dark rock contrasting with the white painted walls. Everything is well kept and clean. Even the lighthouses remain habited and still have an enormous importance in the maritime traffic. Experience the view at the Senhora da Victória Lighthouse overlooking the whale shape rock formation called Ilhéu da Baleia that has become a brand of Graciosa Island. Graciosa looks much smaller then it really is. It is when you get to the inside of the crater of the main volcano that you realise its majesty and extension. Several paths take you to the crater. The “Caldeira”, as it is called in Portuguese, is filled with lush pine woods and green valleys. At its centre lays the Furna do Enxofre, a cave reachable through spiral stairs. There is a 130mt diameter hot water lagoon with 100mt deep. Sulphur levels are often high in the summer and sometimes the cave is closed for visitors. But the local information centre as well as the view and surroundings are worth the visit. Don’t miss the local products. The vineyards produce high quality wines and preserves. Small melons, meloa in portuguese are the main fruit as well as the passion fruit. Island cheese is a wonderfull spicy strong taste perfect to match the sweet flavour of Graciosa’s grapes. The many restaurants arround the island will surprise you with wonderfull local recipies like the “Alcatra de Congro”(congro eel stew) or “Polvo à Lagareiro” (octupuss cooked in olive oil). Ask the locals for the restaurants that best suit your appetite. The biggest and only hotel in the island is Graciosa Hotel, fully integrated with the surrounding landscape; this hotel has everything to make your stay more than comfortable. You also can stay at rural houses, pensions or even camp around the island, being Carapacho Camping the most incredible one. The camping overlooks the Thermal Facilities and the sea natural pools of thermal hot water. The panoramas of the Ilhéu do Carapacho and Ilhéu da Gaivota, just ahead, are breathtaking. Only if you are diving in Graciosa you will know what goes on under that view. Massive underwater stonewalls, underwater mountains, thousands of fish of dozens of species, algae and beautiful caves make Graciosa one of the most beautiful places to dive in Portugal. The local tour operators can also take you to see hundreds of dolphins on regular island boat tours.You would need more than one book to express everything you feel, see and do while you are visiting Graciosa. For Portugal Travel Advisor team this was just the first chapter.

See you soon Graciosa Island.

More about Graciosa Island soon.

Internal Flights

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Moving Around

Continue reading »]]> The Azores Islands are the largest Portuguese archipelago and consists in nine islands located in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,500 km west of mainland Europe, with an area of 2247 square km.
The archipelago is divided into three groups. The eastern group includes the islands of Sao Miguel and Santa Maria, the central group has the islands of Faial, Pico, Sao Jorge, Terceira and Graciosa, and the western group is formed by the islands Flores and Corvo.
The Eastern Group also includes a group of oceanic rocks and reefs, located northeast of Santa Maria, called Ilheu das Formigas, which together with the reef Dollabarat constitute the Natural Reserve of the Ilheu das Formigas, one of the most important sites for conservation of the marine biosphere in the northeast Atlantic.
The largest city in these islands is Ponta Delgada on the island of St. Miguel, and is also the largest island of the archipelago. The highest point of the archipelago and Portugal is situated at the top of Pico Mountain and measures 2352 m in height.
The volcanic origin of the Azores, except Santa Maria, has its maximum expression on the island of Sao Miguel, in the famous Furnas Valley and had his most recent work in terrestrial Capelinhos on the island of Faial, in 1957-1958.
The climate is temperate, registering an average temperature of 13 º C in winter and 24ºC in summer the Gulf Stream, which passes relatively close, keeps the sea at an average temperature between 17 C and 23 º C.
The Azores is a mixed soil fertility with its green fields bordered by hedges planted and natural coloured flowers, and agricultural ineptitude by not only the sharp slope and the inaccessibility of its most remote areas, but especially for the exhibition of a natural vegetation composed of numerous endemic species of high botanical and science value, giving the landscape an unusual scenic beauty and is an invaluable collection of the natural heritage of the region.
Mainly due to its geographical location in the Atlantic, theoretically halfway between Europe and America, the Azores are one-stop destination for many migratory birds on their long transatlantic crossings, take the opportunity to rest, not only in ponds and coasts of the islands Azores, but in most islets that surround them, some of these are even nesting sites.
While the Azores does not have an endemic fauna in the true sense of the word, there are species that, by the geographical isolation of the islands in them have adapted and, therefore, has specific characteristics, mainly in colour, size and shapes, which distinguish them, and some of them, have subspecies in the Region.
There are several alternatives for long walks through the flowered paths and green fields, up hills and down valleys, which transmit the stroller a pleasant feeling of absolute tranquillity. While they provide exciting pictures of the innermost places of the Azorean landscape, coupled with the pleasure of an always healthy contact with nature.
For lovers of the underwater observations and explorations, the seas of the Azores offer extraordinary multicoloured wealth funds, not only visual but also in marine animal and plant life.
Further reinforcing these conditions, the crystal blue sea that washes the coast of the Azores islands is calm and warm inviting the practice of various sports, such as the “Surf,” “Windsurfing, Rowing, Sailing and Swimming, beyond that is extremely rich in fish varieties, which allow amateur fishing line and excellent sea catches.