Category: Random places

I stumbled across a recent article in The I. Describing the archipelago as “otherworldly European islands”I couldn’t help chuckling about an unorthodox trip there with a dear friend in February 2020 just before the covid pandemic.

I originally wrote this mid-way through a budget stay in the Azores nursing a an Azorean gin hangover.

Volcanoes, Goats and Fondue

I kept seeing adverts for luxury Azorean trips but was unconvinced that the hefty price tag was necessary for such a beautiful place.

So just for fun, we decided to see if we could visit “on the cheap”

Ryanair flights from London Stansted to Ponta Delagada on the main island of Sao Miguel for just £30? We were sold!

Armed with just  our wee ryanair-approved hand luggage off we went with Storm Ciara (remember that?!) biting at our plane as it headed down the Atlantic. To be honest we were lucky we made it out of Stansted as Moira abandoned her luggage in the pub and went off for a wander! Luckily the barman decided that she didn’t look like a bomb smuggler.

To scrimp to the extreme, we didn’t bother booking seats together resulting in me sitting at the back of the plane convinced we were going to plunge into the Atlantic as we flew through Storm Ciara. (I was a nervous flyer then, not any more – I’ll write about that another time). Being tossed around at the back of the plane without a drink to calm my nerves because I’d stupidly volunteered to drive on arrival meanwhile Moira had lucked out with her over wing seat.

It really was a horrible flight, apparently my face was the colour of simmered gruel by the time we disembarked and I gave Moira a good telling off whilst waiting at the car hore desk. “I mean how COULD you? Pressing the call bell for more wine while the stewards were trying to revive the corpse in the aisle?!!” Moira assured me that it wasn’t her wee blonde head and perfectly manicured finger that had been agitating for more wine during the flight, rather it was the Danish girl infront of her.

We collectes the hire car. We’d picked the “economy ” option which turned out to be a pint-sized Volkswagen Up!. As my air-terror subsided I realised I hadn’t bothered to pack my glasses so couldn’t really see to drive on the wrong side of the road in the dark trying to find an Airbnb that wasn’t on Google maps. After driving over a kerb (i didn’t see it in the gloom)….first stop was a mercado to buy vino and ditch the car for the night.

Now the issue with being impulsive and grabbing cheap flights and doing destination research afterwards has its pluses and minuses. On the one hand, visiting the Azores off-season means no marauding hordes of cruise ship passengers. On the other hand, it turns out off season also means no island hopping flights and ferries,  thus our trip was confined to the island of Sao Miguel. It is a beautiful island with rugged coasts, volcanoes and lush greenery with a LOT of rain and mist in February.

The first two nights we booked a small flat in the main town of Ponta Delgada owned by a local family. Budget travel always throws up some surprises! It was great to discover our apartment had not one but two en-suites – luxury! On the downside our hospitable host directed us to park the Up! in a pile of old smelly fish boxes rather than the pristine car park next door. It wasn’t until daylight that we realised why – the empty car park next door belonged to the local prison!

Day 2 Rocha de Relva hiking trail:

The Azores are famed for amazing hiking and walking but I confess our sum total of hiking during our Azorean holiday was a 15 minute march down the Rocha de Relva hiking trail in search of our Cheese Fondue experience at Lapsa Garden.

We set off down the very steep cliff path, in search of cheese and wine, convinced there was no way there could be anything but seabirds and maybe a wild goat or two as we tiptoed down the cliff….and then…

Clung to the side of a cliff with decking, uninterrupted views of the sea and sky was Lapsa Garden and our beautiful hosts, Asnate & Tiago were waiting to stuff us full of local Azorean cheese fondue accompanied by very nice wine and their home-made bread, chutney and pesto. This was truly one of the most beautiful locations I’ve visited and I would love to go back to spend time unplugged.

Without doubt, the fondue was the best I’d tasted, bubbling, tangy and salty with fresh herby hints. We ended up sunburnt and absolutely pissed and insisted that, seeing as we’d drank far more than our fair share of Asnate and Tiago’s personal wine cellar that we took them out partying in Ponta Delgada that evening. I have a vague memory of plying our new friends with Scotch whisky and a lot of discussion about politics. Fun!

Day 3 – Ponta Delgada: We were both suffering from our partying til the wee small hours. I woke up feeling like death. Moira had got up and gone for a walk and came back to drag me out my bed to go and do some very weird window shopping and fuel me with some extremely good pizza.

To my delight, I discovered that a childhood favourite of mine Um-Bongo tropical fruit juice* was on sale in the local store and I now swear by this if A- you have a really bad wine hangover and B- if you are drinking champagne, a dash of Um-Bongo really elevates it to a far superior flavour profile!

Day 4 – Fournas– it was time to say goodbye to the main town and head inland to the hot springs and volcanoes of Fournas. We made a brief stop to visit the pineapple farm, (free) and headed for the hills.

Now Google maps proved to be extremely UNHELPFUL by recommending a “shortcut” through some sort of sheep grazing path between two farms, nearly wedging the Up! between two walls!! If we’d bothered to look at the map properly, we’d have realised that by far the most efficient way to Fournas was via the motorway. I suppose you could say it was the scenic route… but driving up the steep side of a volcano in an automatic Voltswagen Up! which felt more like a Down! as it fought against gravity was a bit squeaky bum time! When we reached the top, the breathtaking views were of thick fog!

But in fairness, the scenic route did deliver the Cha Porto Formaso – tea plantation. Thanks to its unique climate, the Azores is know as the tea capital of Europe apparently? I confess we only stopped in for a picturesque pee stop but the lady at the desk was most insistent that we should tour the tea factory, watch the tea video and sample their tea.

As we headed further inland from the coast, dark oppressive clouds loomed over the volcanic centre of the island giving an ominous feeling of heading to Mordor. And to cap it off, I felt like I had a cold coming on, streaming nose and sneezing.

Our next accommodation was described as a “cottage garden” I suppose yes it was, they just failed to mention it was in a yard with a guard mastiff called Benjamin. The young woman told us it had been her grandmother’s cottage and we were her first official paying guests. She was so welcoming and I fell in love with the kitschy mismatched little house.

Fournas was very quiet being off season, many of the restaurants were closed but we managed to find a wee place serving wine and pizza with a resident cat to keep us company. On our way home we stumbled across this bizarre upside down house (Casa Invertida), apparently someone decided to have a bit of fun with a mundane telephone exchange.

The next morning we headed to the municipal hot springs –Poça da Dona Beija with the hope of the thermal baths killing off my cold. Entry costs just €6 – another Azorean bargain!!  However, it turns out I wasn’t coming down with a cold, rather I am ALLERGIC to sulphur hot springs! The sulphur farting out of the earth made my face swell and my eyes stream, by the time I came out the pools I could barely breathe and sneezing profusely. So much for the healing powers of the natural thermal baths…

Day 5: Without a doubt my favourite day, – Breakfast With Goats. We visited Ricardo’s goat farm where we met, milked and cuddled the goats and then stuffed ourselves with an Azorean traditional breakfast including some delicious goats cheese, local breads, local fruit and local chocolate milkshake.

Day 6 – Nordest and (no) whale watching

If you make it this far north in Sao Miguel, do make sure to check out the local museum which looks like the contents of some long-dead Azorean’s shed. We were warmly welcomed, possibly because we were the first visitors in days.

The weather hadn’t been the best throughout our trip, we’d booked a whale watching trip for our final day but the company cancelled citing bad weather and storms. The picture below shows our misty walk to Nordeste lighthouse, I remain unconvinced that the whale watching company’s reasoning “It’s too wet to go out on a boat” really washed. In any case, we spent our final day looking out over the ocean eating tinned sardines and drinking Vinho Verde.

All too soon our mini break was over, as we toasted our successful (and very cheap) adventures in Sao Miguel .

Fina thoughts? Going REALLY off season is the most budget friendly way to visit the Azores, especially if you want to miss the cruise ship crowds, but we also missed the opportunity to island hop and missed the majority of the warm sunshine.

*Um Bungo is now stocked at Iceland UK