A few facts

We have until now set foot on four of the nine islands of the Azores. I thought that we should share a few facts and impressions of our visits just to show off that we read tour guides. These are all volcanic islands so they all have numerous craters. Some are filed with water and others not. On Pico, we can see the highest volcano of all of Portugal at 2531m, the widest one with 15km in diameter is on Terceira and Faïal has had the most recent activity with an eruption in 1957-58 and a earthquake reaching 6,8 on the Richter scale on 1998.
Last year, about 12000 people lived on the Island of Flores and this year they are down to 4000 residents. They all left to live in Canada or the US. The guide doesn't explain why but I'm guessing the lack of work. Walking around the Island is like walking in the ghost town of an old western. The street have so little traffic that it's almost impossible to get a ride. However, the scenery is magnificent. Natural pools, lakes, waterfalls, flowers, ... and not a noise. It's a small paradise. There is a special place in my heart for this Island because of it's beauty but also because it is the first land I saw after my first crossing of the Atlantic.
Faïal is the meeting place of all navigators who suffer from the same fever of crossing big oceans. They all meet to discuss how long it took, how fast they went, what broke and how much it shook. All sailors must leave a painting on the wall or it is bad luck and some also leave a flag at Peter's Sport Cafe. Most of the activities in the city of Horta center around the tourists specially during the week of the sea. People arrive by boat but also by plane, by ferry and by cruise boats. He were a bit disappointed by Peter's which is a legendary meeting place for navigators because it has now been taken hostage by all tourists making it hard to get a table and to find other navigators to exchange with. The prices are high and the service is extremely slow. I say extremely because in the Azores, the service is generally slow. They don't live at the same speed as the North Americans do but that is a good thing.
Because of it's proximity to Faïal and the ferry that travels regularly between the two Islands, Pico also sees quite of bit of tourist action but the activities of the city of Madalena do not center around them. The main attraction is of course the big volcano but it takes someone in shape to climb it. If you go to the highest point possible by car, there still would be a 3 to 4 hour walk to reach the top. We passed. Since the Island is also known for it's wine, we chose to walk in the vineyards instead. Apparently, there is fighting going on between the people of the three major cities of the Island because they all believe their city is the best. When they divided they Island in three administrative zones, they also divided the volcano in three equal parts starting from the top like a giant pie because they were afraid that giving the volcano to only one zone would start a civil war.
The navigators that brought back precious cargo from "The New World" use the Island of Terceira as a warehouse. This meant that the Island was very prosperous for a long time. The down side is that is was regularly attacked. The best story I have found happened in 1581 when a troupe of Spanish galleons prepared to attack the Island. The Azorians where outnumbered so it seemed like all was lost until a monk had the idea of gathering the 400 heads of cattle on the island and sending them into battle. When they arrived on the site, the cattle panicked and charged the Spaniards in the biggest corrida ever known. The Spaniards must of left their capes at home because the cattle won. We get the feeling here that the very old meets the modern. The people are not as traditional and the tourist are not as present so we get a better idea of the everyday life. We also see a lot more children and young people here. Since there is an American air force base on the Island, many of the residents, specially the young ones, speak English.
The weather is getting worst here. The depressions keep on coming. Time for us to move south. We will be leaving Terceira tomorrow morning to head for Santa Maria the last of the Azorian Islands we will visit this year. The crossing will take about 28 hours. After that, we will head for Madera.