That Danny!

My partner, D., likes escaping to islands that I’ve never heard of, usually in the middle of nowhere. This is sometimes as simple as spinning Google Earth until a candidate presents itself – followed by the planning of a ‘random holiday’. Weird as this sounds, I must admit that after my initial doubts subside it usually works. The less popular they are, the better.

This time it was The Azores, a cluster of nine islands, set on the tips of ocean volcanoes in the deep Atlantic, between Portugal and the US. They lay empty of human habitation until the fifteen hundreds, when Portuguese settlers claimed them from nature. Today they are an autonomous region of Portugal (and therefore within the EU).

We stayed for a week on Sao Miguel island, the biggest member of the archipelago and chose its capital Ponta Delgada as our base.

Sao Miguel Island – What’s it like?

• Sao Miguel is beautiful, lush and green. In places it feels like the backdrop to a Jurassic Park movie, especially where giant fern-like plants surround you amidst the steam from volcanic geothermal boiling water (in Caldeira Velha).
• Despite the wildness and beauty of the lakes and volcanic landscape, Sao Miguel sometimes feels like a huge landscaped botanical garden. The Azorians obviously love their island and invest heavily in taming nature and making it pretty. It is strikingly clean, wonderfully manicured and it is sometimes difficult to tell what is natural and what isn’t. The roads are lined with flowers even in remote parts of the island, and everything is, well, just so. If you ever imagined what it would be like to stay at the Eden project for a week, this would be it. The humid air feels like a greenhouse, and the vegetation is spectacular, even if it sometimes feels manufactured.
• One of the best things about this greenhouse was that the utter lack of crowds anywhere. Perhaps it was the timing of our visit (mid October) or that the Azores are such a well kept secret, but being able to sit on the stunning shores of the Lake of Fire (Lagoa do Fogo) uninterrupted by anyone was superb. We also noticed that towns and villages seemed almost deserted. We weren’t sure where everyone was, but throughout the week and weekend we drove through quiet settlements that felt almost deserted, no matter what time of day.
• It took us a couple of days to realize that Sao Miguel is eerily quiet, in a way quite different to anywhere else we’ve been. In most parts of the world whether you realize it or not, there is always a backdrop of aircraft noise above you, for most of the day. Here in the Mid-Atlantic most jets pass over 30,000 feet above you, and so out of sound range. The only planes you hear are those that land in The Azores, and there aren’t that many of those either.
• Towns on the island are a strange mixture of old and new. Infrastructure and development are distinctly European, and the Azores’ location in the mid-Atlantic hasn’t stopped them from hatching American style malls, multiplex cinemas and shopping prices on a par with European capitals. Good hotels are of good quality (we stayed at the Hotel de Colegio which was excellent), and roads are modern and well maintained.

Driving in Sao Miguel

• Driving is on the right and traffic rules are the same as they are in the rest of Western Europe.
• Most towns and villages have very narrow roads, so it is best to hire a car that isn’t too wide, and to fold your wing mirror when passing through narrow streets, or when parking. It can get quite tight at times.
• Probably due to lack of hard shoulders on the island, Azorians are in the habit of stopping their cars just about anywhere. You can drive at a 60 KPH on a B-road, and suddenly find that a car is parked in the middle of the road in front of you. Take extra care, expect parked cars on the road, and don’t speed.
• Pedestrians in Sao Miguel appear to assume a right of way on the roads, or are simply not fazed in the least by cars. Don’t assume that they would move out of the way, give them plenty of space and slow down. It is not uncommon to find a person standing in the middle of the road, expecting a car to overtake them.
• I haven’t found any satellite navigation system that covers The Azores. This is not surprising, considering the natives would know all the roads on their islands by heart, and the limited number of visitors has not made the archipelago a priority for digital mapping companies. This should not be a problem in Sao Miguel’s simple grid, but here are the two pitfalls to watch out for:
• All villages and towns run a one-way system, which is not always predictable. The capital Ponta Delgada isn’t huge, but can get a little confusing, and you may end up going around in circles for a while, at least initially.
• Road signing is usually good and reliable, but in some places, especially a little off the beaten track or where there are diversions, there is an assumption that you know where you’re going. The good news is that on an island the size of Sao Miguel it is very hard to get lost for very long.

Eating in Ponta Delgada

• Restaurants in Ponta Delgada aren’t as bluntly obvious to the casual observer as in most countries, so you need to look out for them a bit more intently. I’m not sure why that is. Perhaps island mentality is that everyone knows where they are anyway.
• Quality varies like anywhere else, but we’ve had some excellent meals in Ponta Delgada, especially in the Hotel do Colegio restaurant, which is well known for its great food. At the time of writing, an average good restaurant two-course meal for two costs Euro 35-40 (before alcohol).
• As this is an island in the middle of the Atlantic, Seafood is a common staple, but note that if you see “dolphin” on the menu, it is definitely not the cute intelligent mammal, but a fish now rebranded in most of the world as Mahi Mahi. Yes, really. You can get shark though.

Getting there

SATA International operates direct flights from some North American airports and from Paris, London, Manchester, Frankfurt and Lisbon. It also codeshares with TAP, that has a wider network of routes, so you may want to start your search on the TAP site.

And the verdict?: a great destination off the tourist track. Pack your hiking boots and lots of camera memory. We had a great time.

Technorati Tags: azores, islands, ponta delgada, portugal, sao miguel

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• My First UFO Experience - Sao Miguel Island 16 October 2008