Author Archives: Rigmor
Where pineapples come from
Besides tea and wine, the Azores are also a producer of pineapples. In Fajã de Baixo — only a short drive from Ponta Delgada — you can find Quinta Das Três Cruzes: an organic pineapple planation that primarily sell their produce to the Azores itself and to mainland Portugal. The plantation consists of greenhouses, as the pineapples aren’t grown outdoors. As we arrive, a staff member asks us if we would like a tour, and before we know it, the tour […]
Good guidebook — bad guidebook
So prior to our departure for the Azores, we struggled to find available guidebooks for the place. At the end we landed on a book by David Sayers — it was one of the few guidebooks we found available in English — a language that we both thankfully understand! The guidebook didn’t help us much, though. We were quite disappointed as the structure of the contents is directly unhelpful. You can’t check the guidebook by geographical area, for example, because […]
A visit to the Gorreana tea plantation
Back in São Miguel, we rent a car again. We start off taking the scenic route along the north coast, driving to Nordeste — a quaint, little town on the North-Eastern tip of the island, for lunch. Nordeste was only recently connected to the new fast road network, and it shows — the little town has some old charm, and a population that appears to take real pride in their hometown. (As for the lunch, we ate at Restaurante Esplanada, where […]
A day trip around Faial
From Madalena, we can see straight across the Faial-Pico channel to Faial, and we decide to take a day trip to this neighbouring island. The ferry leaves Madalena at 8:15 in the morning, and takes us to Horta — the one and only town on Faial, where we pick up a car we have decided to rent for the day.
Capelinhos
Once there was a whaling station here; now there are only the remains of a lighthouse and another rock pool at the seaside.