So, our expedition left behind the beautiful island of Terceira with gorgeous views, a beautiful capital and playful dolphins. Now our path lies to the west - 350 kilometers from Terceira are the islands of Flores and Corvo, and I’ll tell you about Flores today.
I have already mentioned that the Azores are different from each other because they arose at different times. So Floris (and Corvo too) is, of course, the most Icelandic of all the Azores islands. While we were there, I repeatedly felt like I was back in Iceland. Of course, Terceira is similar in places, you can also find similar places in Faial and San Miguel, but the similarities between Iceland and Flores are truly amazing. Well, now let's check if this is true :)
SATA is an Azores airline and the Bombardier Q400 is one of its main aircraft
Florish greeted us with rather gloomy weather and occasional rain, but we made a couple of stops on the way to the hotel. First we stopped near two neighboring lakes and even saw something through the cloud.
The lakes are indeed located very close and are separated by a ridge from which, in fact, you can admire them. They are called Funda and Comprida. Comprida is translated as "long"
But somehow I couldn’t figure out the translation of the word Funda (Google didn’t help), but we can assume that this name also refers to the form
Looking ahead, I note that we still managed to see these lakes later in clear weather - you can compare :)
The vegetation on Florish seems to be the same as on the other islands, but not quite. There are more mosses and all sorts of low-growing species here. This in many ways makes it similar to Iceland.
After the lakes we stopped at an old mill, which has long become a local landmark
Water mill with two wheels. Each one activates such a mechanism
One wheel spins and the other rests
This car is over a century old. Corn flour in this case
The rain either subsided or started again and we went to the hotel. I’ll tell you about it in detail and in pictures a little later, but first we’ll admire the beauty of the island
So, we got to the hotel, threw our suitcases and agreed with the owners about dinner. There were still a few hours left, and the hotel owner suggested taking a ride to the nearest waterfall. Well, off we go.
At first, even the weather favored this idea, the blue sky showed through
The waterfall, although small, is very picturesque
Cows graze right there - a complete idyll in general
By the way, the waterfall is not the only one; there are several of them along the mountainside
Unfortunately, the clouds have thickened again
And here is the lower part of our waterfall
The scale, of course, is much more modest than Icelandic
However, there are more impressive waterfalls on the island, next time I’ll tell you about one of these :)
In general, in clear weather this is the best place to paint watercolors
By the way, it seems to me that the upper and lower parts of this waterfall look prettier separately than together
Clouds are creeping up the slope
While we could still see something, we reached the ocean shore
Here is our familiar waterfall
Along the coast (and this is the western tip of Flores) stretch the same lava formations that we saw on Terceira and will see more than once
This is where our short excursion ended, let's go back to the hotel
And on the way, we looked into a village store, where suddenly a hair mask originally from Moscow was discovered on the shelf! That's it, I never expected to find such a domestic product in the Azores :)
Well, now, as promised, I’ll tell you about the hotel. He is truly unusual. There was once a very small village on Flores called Aldea da Cuada (“aldea” means “village”). Then the residents abandoned it, until twenty years ago when a person was found who decided to breathe new life into the empty houses. And inhaled.
Now they accept tourists, and each house (and there are about ten of them) has its own name
We stayed in a two-story building. I took pictures the next day, which turned out to be quite nice
The owner's wife did the interiors, and they were definitely a success
Here you will find candles and kerosene lamps (we lit them and they work) and complete rustic comfort. One problem is that the audibility in such a house is close to one hundred percent, but in an expedition race this is not particularly scary
In the former village there is also a chapel
Here are a couple more houses
There was still some time left before the planned dinner, and we scattered to our rooms or the immediate surroundings. But at seven o'clock it turned out that our team had lost Love. I mean, Lyubov went for a walk and never returned. Along this treacherous path
A phone call confirmed her fears: Lyuba was lost, and the stone fences turned out to be akin to a real labyrinth. The rescue team, consisting of our accompanying Larisa and the future son-in-law of the hotel owner, set out to search, but we stayed to wait for dinner and raise toasts to the successful completion of the operation and organized a headquarters. I will probably omit the details of this operation, because it got dark quite quickly, and it became clear that the matter was not as trivial as it seemed at the very beginning. But in the end, everyone found each other, gathered and returned to the table safe and relatively unharmed (but the possibility of calling rescuers was seriously discussed at some point). Overall, the dinner was a success, needless to say. On the other hand, there can be no expedition without adventures, the main thing is that they end well.
And this, by the way, is the owner’s daughter, Carlotta. And the dog, which, as I now think, should have just been followed :)
By the way, they are thinking about organizing this story into an attraction for future guests. A couple in love arrives at the hotel, they take the young lady away, and let the young man look for himself.
Well, okay, let's return to the beauty of the island again. The next morning, the main part of the team set off to conquer Corva, but on the way to the port we stopped at one of the many observation platforms. Look, this is also a caldera, but not quite an ordinary one. Half of it remained on the island, and the other is now hidden under water
The village is called Fazazinha
A whole scattering of waterfalls
A very strange shape on the slope
Why not Iceland?
And the panorama is traditional
I’ll tell you about the trip to Corva, which can also be called an adventure, next time, but we returned to Flores relatively early that day, so we still had time to admire the beauty of the island.
Here is another pair of lakes. One of them is called familiarly - Funda
And the second lake is Melkoye (Rasa)
Here, of course, the sun hits the lens directly, but still. As if unknown giants had fashioned a hill from plate
And on Florish the hydrangea has already bloomed
By the way, about the hills. There is a local breed of cows in the Azores, and in addition, Dutch ones were brought in not so long ago. So the Dutch also adapted to climbing slopes, something they never did in their homeland. Visual proof that Darwin was right, in general
And here is another observation deck. Do you recognize? Yes, this is the same caldera as in the morning, only from a different point. This is the special charm of Florish - from a different angle, familiar places are sometimes difficult to recognize even
This is the westernmost edge of the island, the archipelago and Europe
To be completely precise, this title belongs to the tiny island of Monchique
Well, clear weather also changes the picture
There are more than a dozen waterfalls
Fantastically beautiful place
If you look closely, you can see several gray houses on the right side of the frame. This is the village-hotel. Well, the rescue operation took place on these terraces the night before
Here's the reverse view
Amazing landscape
The next morning we left Flourish. We said goodbye to a wonderful hotel and its hospitable owners
And we went to the airport. And along the way we made up for lost time on the first day. This is the same platform between two lakes
Well, one of them, which is also Funda
The final chord was another observation
Sheer delight
Do you see an island on the horizon? This is Corvo, it’s a little over 20 kilometers from Floris
Wonderful Flourish in clear weather! And even if it’s cloudy, it’s not bad at all, I’ll tell you :)
That's all I wanted to tell you about the most beautiful of all the Azores islands. Bye, Florish!
We are not saying goodbye to the Western Azores at this point - a story about Corva will be coming soon :) Well, then we’ll move on to Faial. There we will get acquainted with volcanism and the history of whale fishing in the Azores.
Flores Island belongs to the western group of the Azores archipelago of Portugal. Its area is about 142 km². The highest point of the island is Mount Morro Alto, which reaches 914 meters above sea level. The island has two municipalities: Lajes das Flores in the south and Santa Cruz das Flores in the north. Flores Island is an ideal destination for true nature lovers.
Attractions of the island of Flores
Seven lakes
In the central zone of the island, in the craters of extinct volcanoes, there are the famous seven lakes. These are places of rare beauty. The Blue Lake (Lagoa Funda) is considered the most picturesque. However, other lakes - Lomba, Rasa, Seca, Negra, Comprida and Branca - deserve attention and admiration.
Rocha dosBordoes
The Rocha dos Bordoes group of rocks is a strange and delightful natural wonder of the island of Flores. These are huge blocks of basalt, similar to organ pipes, covered with mosses, lichens and other vegetation. In 2004, the government recognized the Rocha dos Bordoes rocks as a natural monument.
Ribeira Grande Waterfall
Surrounded by lush vegetation, the scenic Fajazinha area is home to nearly two dozen waterfalls. But the most amazing waterfall of them all is Ribeira Grande, whose cascade of water descends from a height of 300 meters. The best place to see the waterfall almost entirely is the observation deck at Fajazinha.
Natural pools in Santa Cruz
The swimming pools are just a few minutes walk from the airport. This is the best place to see local marine life.
Faja Grande
One of the most beautiful places on the island, located on the west coast. On the one hand, huge cliffs rise, covered with lush green vegetation, and on the other, the blue ocean, the waves of which crash against the coastal rocks. From here you can see the islet of Monchique, once used as a starting point for maritime navigation. These are small basalt rocks about 30 meters high, isolated in the ocean.
Nature of the island of Flores
Flourish is an abundance of flowers, bizarre rocks, waterfalls, hot springs, valleys, lagoons, grottoes and the remains of old volcanoes. The island has seven volcanic craters that have turned into beautiful lakes.
The coastline of the island is made up of islets, capes, shallows, bays, and coastal caves.
Climate and weather of Flores Island
The climate of Flores Island is largely shaped by the Gulf Stream. Winter is mild and rainy. The average temperature in winter is + 14 C, in summer + 25 C. In summer there is less precipitation than in winter.
Flores Island - video
Flores and Corvo Islands form the western group of islands of the Azores archipelago. Traveling around the island of Flores begins from Santa Cruz Airport, which provides inter-island connections.
Florish is rightfully considered an island of amazing beauty, combining all the delights of other places in the Azores. The rugged coastline, sometimes reaching a height of 600 meters, steep mountain spurs, green plains, picturesque lakes and hot springs create the impression that the island was masterfully drawn by an artist who was able to use all the splendor of shapes and colors.
Administratively, the island is divided into 2 municipalities - Lajes and Santa Cruz. The oldest parish of the island is located in Lajes, and the most famous architectural monuments are the church "Nossa Senhora do Rosário" and the chapel "Nossa Senhora das Angústias" in Lajes, the churches "Nossa Senhora da Conceição" and "São Boaventura" in Santa Cruz.
It is difficult to describe all the beauties of Florish, but I would especially like to note the following:
- a favorite place for tourists is the area of the “Seven Extinct Craters” - once upon a time they were volcanoes, but now they are seven delightful lakes;
- the rock "Rocha dos Bordões", which offers an amazing view of the "Fajã Grande" and the "Ribeira Grande" waterfall, falling from a 300-meter height. This rock is the visiting card of the island, a miraculous monument formed by the forces of nature over the centuries. Jagged vertical layers of basalt rocks give a menacing and magical flavor to this place;
- the island's picturesque lakes combined with rocky cliffs rising to "Morro Alto", the highest point of the island (915m) and "Sete Pés Pico".
Lying in the Atlantic Ocean between two continents, the island is the westernmost point of Europe, Portugal, and the Azores proper. Local old-timers joke that from Faja Grande you can hear the roosters crow in America.
Hotels on Flores Island - book online
Corvo, another island of the western group of the Azores archipelago, is located 10 miles north of the island of Flores. Its population is only 300 inhabitants living in the town of Vila Nova. The most notable building in the city is the church "Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Milagres", built in the 16th century. Leaving the city center, you will reach the "Morro do Pão Açucar" hill, which offers a beautiful view of Vila Nova and its surroundings. Climbing the highest mountain of the island - "Monte Grosso" (770m) will give you an unforgettable experience and an amazing view of "Caldeirão", a now dormant volcano, the crater of which reaches 300m in depth and 3.4 km in perimeter.
Along the coast of Corvo there are several windmills - an element of the landscape that is uncharacteristic of other islands. Constructed from black stone, they are equipped with triangular wings on a woven base, reminiscent of sails. The mechanism of these mills is designed in such a way that it rotates depending on the direction of the wind.
In general, the vastness of the horizons, the simple, calm life of the small community of the island, its charm will forever leave a mark on your heart. Corvu is a tiny green “drop” in the greatness and power of the azure ocean.
Description and location
Flores Island is part of the western group of the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. Administratively, the island is divided into two municipalities: Lajes das Flores in the south and Santa Cruz das Flores in the north. The island was discovered in 1450 by Diogo de Teive and his son João. It was originally called St. Thomas Island. The first settlers on the island were the family of the Flemish aristocrat Willem van der Hagen between 1480 and 1490. Since 1510, the Portuguese from the northern provinces began to settle on the island.
In July 1962, France set up a missile test site on the island. The island's infrastructure improved and a hospital and airport were built.
In 1994, the French left the island, and tourists began to actively visit it.
Nature
Flores is famous for its volcanic lakes located in the craters of volcanoes. Most of the time they are shrouded in fog, so the best time to visit them is spring. The most picturesque of the lakes is Funda, with many small shallows and shores framed by unusually beautiful vegetation, thanks to which it is considered the most beautiful.
Particularly noteworthy are the Baroque mansions and churches, as well as the Ribeira Grand waterfall.
Pastures, farms and vineyards make up the island's extraordinary landscape.
Climate
Nautical. The average air temperature in January is +15°C, in July +22°C. In summer it is hot, but not stuffy. From September to April it often rains and there may be fogs.
Sea and beaches
Favorable period for swimming. From May to September, the water temperature ranges from +20°C to +23°C.”
Corals Soft corals grow underwater
The underwater world is rich, rich in various rare species of marine life. You can watch whales and dolphins.
Lakes
Lake Funda, with its shores framed by dense vegetation, is the most beautiful of the seven lakes located in the catarrhs of extinct volcanoes.
Ocean
Water temperature in summer is 21-23°C, in winter 17-20°C
Flora and fauna
Aquatic inhabitants: dolphins, whales, rare species of jellyfish
Vegetation
The most common plants on the island are cedar, English holly, cherry, mahogany, and laurel.
Interesting places:
Shops, souvenir shops. Shops are mostly open on weekdays, some until lunchtime on Saturday.
Nutrition
Local cuisine Numerous fish and seafood dishes. The cuisine is based on Portuguese, but there are a number of local dishes.
Entertainment- museums Ethnographic Museum
The resort is aimed at adults
The temperature, even at night in winter, never drops below +13°C, so you won’t need warm clothes.
Behavior rules
It is not customary to yawn or sip in public places.
Tips
Tips are informal, but if you are satisfied with the service, you can leave 10% of the bill.
Resort specifics: exotic.
Flores Island, one of the most famous resorts in the world, is very popular among tourists. A variety of recreational activities and excursion programs are one of the main components of modern recreation. Like most resorts in the world, Flores Island can provide different levels of relaxation at a variety of prices. This resort has both luxury hotels and budget hotels.
If you are tormented by the question “Where to relax?”, “Where to spend your vacation?” Then perhaps Flourish Island will be the perfect holiday destination.
The rise was early and was accompanied by three observations. Firstly, our shoulders and back ached, secondly, it had stopped raining outside, and thirdly, we were alone in the entire hotel, which meant that the promised breakfast had passed by. Of course, the main thing was point two - the absence of rain, the shoulders were adjusted with a photo backpack perched on them, and we had learned where to have coffee and a bun the day before.
Having taken a walk around the city to the bakery and back, we did not attract much attention from the local residents, as was the case the day before; we took the fruits we had bought the day before from our room and, getting into the car, set off “towards adventure.”
Green Island
Flores was discovered by the Portuguese in the middle of the 15th century and called the “island of flowers”, however, despite such a romantic name, it was more or less possible to populate it only a century later. The first attempt to do this, made by the Flemish William van der Hagen, ended in failure and in 1480 he fled from Flores to São Jorge. Apparently, the first pancake determined the shape of all subsequent ones and, despite the fact that in the best times, when whaling flourished on the island, the population reached ten thousand inhabitants, now it has returned almost to its original values and does not exceed 4,000 people.
Apart from catching and processing whales, the inhabitants of Flores almost never engaged in commerce, living on self-sufficiency and, in extreme cases, exchanging spare parts for their ships with pirates and corsairs for water and food. In this state they would happily exist to this day, given that whaling was banned and the population began to rapidly decline as a result of emigration, if not for the French army.
In the second half of the 20th century, the French adapted Flores as a testing ground for ammunition, as a result of which infrastructure began to rapidly develop on the island, paved roads and an airport appeared. In the end, the French also left, UNESCO made the island a biosphere reserve, but the airport remained and tourists appeared on Flores, becoming a new source of income for local residents.
Lajes
Despite the fact that the rain had stopped, the clouds were not going to disperse anywhere and continued to hang over the island like a thick gray blanket. Having climbed to a height of six hundred meters, we found ourselves in the central part of the island - here the clouds became closer, and sometimes completely dropped to the ground, turning into fog.
Since we managed to get acquainted with the northern coast of the island the day before, we were now heading south - to a town with the “beautiful, and most importantly rare” name Lajes. It was primarily the commercial port of Flores - you can imagine what an active life there was, considering that the inhabitants of the island provided for themselves. In addition to the “sleepy” port in Lajes there was a church, a small park, a bridge, a waterfall, a souvenir shop, two or three dozen houses, several guns, one cat and, besides us, two American tourists: one fat and one thin. Having photographed all this, we moved on.
End of the world
Undoubtedly, the main attractions of Flores were not Lajes, not Ponta Delgada and not Santa Cruz - the cities on the island performed a very specific function: to eat and spend the night. To enjoy nature in Flores, the first such natural attraction was the western coast of the island, often called by the name of the town located there, Faja Grande.
This place had several features. The first was directly related to the terrain: the central part of the island here abruptly drops from the same six hundred meters that I wrote about at the beginning, to a hundred or less. But the cliff does not immediately go into the sea, forming a giant step in front of the shore. Moreover, the rivers flowing from the center of the island, the largest of which is called Ribeira Grande, have no choice but to fall down from the cliff, cutting the “step” with a dozen waterfalls.
The second feature is purely geographical. Fajan Grande is considered the westernmost point of the European continent. To be completely precise, the westernmost point is the islet of Monchique (Ilheu do Monchique), located another 700 meters to the west, and Fajan Grande is the westernmost settlement, since no one lives on the island.
However, following the phrase: “you can’t be 100% sure of anything,” you can argue with this statement. The fact is that at a point in the Atlantic Ocean, located somewhere between Faial and Flores, as many as three lithospheric plates converge: European, African and North American. It turns out that the western group of islands, to which Flores and Corvo belong, is located on the North American plate and the statement that Fajan Grande refers to the European continent is not entirely correct.
By the way, there is still no consensus on which plate the islands of the central and eastern groups are located on; the presence of the Azores microplate, sandwiched between the Eurasian and African ones, cannot be ruled out.
Seven lakes
Having already visited the third “edge of the world”, after Cape Finisterra in Spain and Cape Roca in Portugal, we took a moment to drink a cup of coffee and moved back to the center of the island and its another natural feature, or rather the whole seven lakes that filled the former volcanic craters.
So here are their names: Lomba, Funda, Rasa, Seca, Negra, Comprida and Branca. Previously, there was confusion and two lakes bore the name Funda, they were distinguished as Funda Lajes and Funda Cedros, until the second was renamed Negra. Lagoa Negra is the deepest of them all (105 meters).
