CNN Internacional remembers a paradise on Earth “that resembles a fairy tale”: it is located in Portugal
If you entered this Saturday on the main page of the CNN international website, it would be this image that you would see: “The volcanic paradise in the middle of the Atlantic”. A long work showing the wonders of Portugal. Read here the original version from around the world you can read on the website of the North American television, of which CNN Portugal is a partner.
Traveling to a paradise on Earth does not necessarily require a long, arduous or dangerous journey.
In fact, a pristine, fairytale-like landscape is just five hours from Boston and about four hours from the UK. It is a land where waterfalls cascade down iridescent green slopes; where the roads are lined with hydrangea hedges; and where rugged coastlines are covered by black sand beaches.
Here are lost in time, where stone houses are similar to similar cobblestone paths, locals who follow the ways of planting in quality or qualities similar to the previous plants or the quality of the cliffs and the similar wagon rides for planting in valley of cliffs and similar wagon rides deliver the milk to the cheese dairy.
Welcome to the Azores, a necklace of nine enchanting islands that huddle in the middle of the Atlantic and form part of Portugal. The archipelago is an autonomous region located about a thousand miles [1.600 quilómetros] of the Portuguese mainland. The most violent pools, the lush islands of the craters and the steaming geysers have a character of wild origin, each of the most outstanding islands that is a wild character, each of the most outstanding islands.
Azores Airlines flies nonstop to Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, from Boston, and to Lajes, on Terceira, with a stopover in Ponta Delgada throughout the year. United Airlines (from Newark) and Azores Airlines (from JFK airport on select days) are both nonstop summer services to Ponta Delgada. British Airways offers nonstop summer service on Saturdays.
After a straight jump to an archipelago seemingly a world away, here’s what to expect on each island:
WESTERN ISLANDS
Flowers
Flores is the westernmost island of the Azores. Although its name is “flowers”, it is the abundant bodies of water that most define this emerald green island which is often shrouded in fog.
There are seven crater lakes in its undulating interior, including the cobalt-green Negra next to the cobalt Lagoprida, with a forested viewpoint dotting clearly visible between them.
Between the lush green cliff walls of the island dripping with waterfalls, the mighty Poço do Bacalhau descends 300 feet [91 metros] even a small swimming pool.
Visitors staying at Cuada village, converted into an accommodation of century-old stone houses decorated with local antiques and patchwork quilts, access to views of cascading waterfalls in the back. This sanctuary embraces life’s simple pleasures, including stargazing from a private garden.
Crow
With less than 500 inhabitants and a lonely town located on the only piece of land at sea level, Corvo is the smallest (and most remote) island in the Azores, at just 6.5 kilometers long and not even 5 kilometers long.
Still, this small island (reminiscent of an old 6 km, close to 1 km north of Flores) is a paradise for birdwatchers, thanks to hope here especially in autumn, sightings of yellow-billed cuckoos and many others. species.
CENTRAL ISLANDS
beech
Over the years, sailboats from the harbor of the capital of Horta – stop have sailed known for their bold painted, items that sail between the New and Old World in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Anchoring their yachts, many current captains and crew still arrive at the Peter Café Sport, nearby, a cozy 100-year-old establishment where nautical engravings cover the interior. Its museum, dedicated to the art of carving and engraving whale teeth and bones, contains items dating back to the late 19th century.
Soccer ball-sized globes of sky-blue hydrangeas border roads and framed houses along the route to the island’s western end. This soled and monochromatic area contrasts with a vibrant and colorful vegetable garden.
An entire village is buried in coal-black ash and other volcanic materials spewed out decades ago by a long-running underwater eruption. O Capelinhos Volcano Interpretation Center has exhibits that tell the stories of this and other volcanoes.
Peak
Mount Pico, almost 2,400 meters high, and the highest point in Portugal, dominates the landscape of this island.
It looks like almost everything is built of black basalt lava stone, including the mosaic over the middle of the island and the island’s stormy salt flats.
It’s the fertile, mineral-rich volcanic soil that has put Pico on every true oenophile’s list. ONE Wine Cooperativea wine cooperative with more than 70 years in Madalena, the island’s capital, offers informal tastings that include verdelho, a fresh white produced from grapes endemic to this island.
In keeping with the sensitivity close to the land of Pico, the resort lava housesvillage-like, contoured with local stone and wood in the construction of its 14 contemporary villas, with many windows.
Saint George
The landscape of urpent and Japanese cedar, the scenic ends the wild or wild paths by paths that were designed by a landscape of being and ancient earth flows.
One of the most seductive is Fajã de Santo Cristo, accessible via a donkey path of about ten lengths that descends from the cloud-covered summit of Serra de Topo. The ancient route through water mills and gates with twisted branches to the isolated seaside village of Fajã de Santo Cristo. Here residents cultivate terraced gardens that grow sweet potatoes, cabbages, spinach and tomatoes.
This coast attracts surfers who come for the waves of breaking point. The island, however, is best known for a culinary delicacy: spicy cow’s milk cheese.
O São Jorge cheese It is still produced by methods that date back centuries. This delicious cheese – it can be drizzled with honey – is served in restaurants not only in São Jorge (such as Fornos de Lava), but also in the other islands of the Azores and in mainland Portugal.
graceful
Many of Graciosa’s iconic sights provide dramatic learning about how iconic figures on the island are.
Almost 200 steps spiral down to the Furna do Sulfur, a lava cave of an asset. It is disturbing to discover that, prior to the construction of this one, villagers descended with ropes to gain access to drinking water for livestock.
The view in the background is surreal. In contrast to the lake at the base filled with cold rainwater, the air in the cave is saturated with the smell of sulfur mud, fumaroles and boiling at 82º Celsius. Sunlight streams through the glasses in the ceiling, revealing yellows gleaming on the boulder-studded slopes.
The thermal village of Carapacho, geothermal energy is used for the resort’s swimming pools Carapacho hot springs.
Third
While Pico’s black basalt gives this island an appearance of black and white brush strokes, Terceira uses in many ways a Crayola crayon palette.
Colorful facades on the streets of the capital, Angra do Heroísmo, and shockingly painted chapels – even in shades of violet – dot the verdant landscape.
On the coast, with all its natural origins, the village pierces and the depth of black lava stretches and stretches through the harbor of black lava. In addition, beach towels can be saved for a sunny day and designed.
This city is also home to the Wine Museumfamily-owned, where the brands of the 100+ year old winemaking operation are on display and in the gardens.
O Caparica Azores Ecolodge da Terceira offers six modern cabins nestled in a laurel forest. Local women’s art accentuates the minimalist interiors.
EASTERN ISLANDS
São Miguel
São Miguel is the largest island in the Azores and where Thin tip, capital of the autonomous region of the Azores. The island is about 65 kilometers long and 15 kilometers long.
It is home to what are said to be the oldest commercial greenhouses in the world growing pineapples and the oldest operating tea plantation in Europe.
off the coast of Vila Franca do Campothe original, a submerged alternative with a lagoon attracts kayakers, divers and swimmers.
One of the island’s most acclaimed sights is Vale das Furnas, a dormant crater covered in foliage and dotted with reminders of its volcanic past, including inviting hot springs.
Within this valley, the centenary Terra Nostra Garden it is particularly magical. Shadowy paths wind along a winding canal, caves and endemic and exotic plants, some more than a century old.
Also visibly stunning, with ferns and shelters filled with sculptures from the Golf Club, is the 18-hole Furnas, which sits about 50 meters above the sea.
In Ponta Delgada, guests of the Lady of the Rose boutique hotel feel during the greenhouse of this capital, especially when we are in a small pineapple pool.
Santa Maria
Santa Maria, the southernmost of the Azores, is not only the sunniest of the islands, but also the only one blessed with golden sandy beaches.
The greens and blues of the sea, the sky and the valleys mix at Miradouro da Pedra Rija, one of the many viewpoints that provide a beautiful place for barbecues. Forests of Japanese cedar cover the switchbacks, sometimes alongside paths lined with Azorean blueberries and small orchids.
The village of São Lourenço is especially popular in summer for its photogenic landscape, which is supported by a tapestry of old vines surrounded by black lava stone walls.
The charming seaside village of Anjos has a calm natural pool, and the local bar Bar dos Anjos offers stellar sunset views to enjoy while nibbling on grilled limpets.
Note: The original CNN International article can be read here.