Azores Discovery
An emerald necklace set in a azure sea, the Azores are likely the most beautiful place you've never been to. The cover image for this article is not photoshopped, and that suspended mountain — Mt. Pico — actually looks this miraculous. You find yourself too, suspending disbelief at every turn.
The Food
Our first lunch after landing was at the famous sailor watering hole, Peter’s Cafe Sport which tells you that “Café Sport is a symbol of free men wandering around a vast handsome world without racial nor cultural borders”.
Who doesn’t want a to share a beer with like-minded miscreants at a bar with this ethos?
Reviewing the basic pub grub menu, there was also a “selection of cheeses”. Of course, I told the server I'd like to try them, but then got a surprising response that I love so much.
The waiter told me no.
“No? I beg your pardon, what do you mean no? Are you out of these cheeses? Why can’t I have them?”
“We definitely have them, but if you actually like cheese, you don't want those.” Then he pointed to another option on the page, which was a local cheese from this particular island. He explained that this local cheese was in season at the moment, and not to be missed.
Although having a waiter tell you “no” when you make a menu choice almost never happens in the States, we have found in our travels that waiters who do this actually care about good food, and giving customers the best experience. I love that and honestly wish more of them would contradict me!
Omg, he was so right, the cheese he suggested was a little mini-silo of melty cheese. You cut the top off of it, and then laid into it with a spoon. It was audible-groaning good. If I lived there I would have it every day of my life. So when you come to the Azores, swallow your pride right before you swallow the indescribably delicious cheese they produce here.
The Landscape
Lush green rolling hills. Pastoral. Bucolic. BYO descriptor, because they all apply in the Azores. And after being in the ocean for a couple of weeks, with its blue-on-blue-on-blue palette of colors, it was so visually pleasant to see the 50 shades of green.
The verdant landscape does things to your mind. You pump the brakes for a minute. Slow your roll. Somewhere in your aging gray matter, taking in this landscape calms, soothes, lowers blood pressure, and is a potent stress antidote. How ‘Zen’ must you be if you lived here all the time?
These pics are from a local volcano, which are just … around. The particular volcano in these images comes with a zit in the middle of its caldera, welling up from the pressure of the lava below. It looks like a mini-caldera — a volcano within a volcano.
The Life
When you arrive, take a moment to look around and see how these people clearly take care of both their limited landscape and cityscape, both of which create a completely welcoming space that is clean, tended, and full of character, culture, and history.
Quaint town cafes invite you to stop being so productive all the time. Settle in. Have a long conversation with your friends over an espresso, one of their amazing little Nata pastries, or a through long multi-course meal. That’s what there is to do here, so just lean in.
Consistent with the space itself, the locals are also friendly and gracious. Whether you’re in a restaurant, a cheese shop, or even just out on the street, get ready for an easy smile and wave.
The background canvas to the foreground shops and people is the architecture, windows, and art. These give you a better “window” into their world. Like other European cultures, they value their history and don’t tear it down to make way for a strip mall or snazzy new parking lot. For this reason, your post-coffee amble through its cobbled streets leads you by buildings of unknown age, built on foundations of times past.
In these walls are deep memories. They don’t live in your brain’s hippocampus, but deeper and more significantly, seeping down into the culture identity itself. You could no more tear down that portal and throw up a Chili’s than you could deny your own family in favor of the new neighbors.
Each structure and home houses a story that touches someone. Its common history creates continuity, and keeps the thread alive with each telling. Imagine sharing a connection to something greater than yourself. That’s what you feel in this space.
Honestly, I envy this. Having grown up in an adolescent country still too juvenile to realize the importance of its past, it’s sobering … quieting … to be in the presence of a reverence for who you are, not just what you do.
Costs
Most island nations have to import everything from everywhere else in the world and cost of living is normally very expensive. You just expect it.
But the Azores are just the opposite. Because they are heavily subsidized by the Portuguese government, you enjoy very nice wines in the range from 3 up to (gasp) 10 Euros. In the wine shop, scrolling through the shelves, I honestly thought the bottles were mislabeled.
At a lovely restaurant, we shared a full three course meal, with appetizers, entrees, wine, dessert, and coffee with some dear friends. The cost? About 13 dollars each. When we got the bill, we literally laughed out loud. The food, btw, was fantastic.
Sailor Nation
As you might expect from an island nation — and moreover an island nation associated with the Portuguese — they have a special relationship with the sea and its sailors.
When ships land in Santa Maria, crew are invited to paint the pier, making their marks, quite literally, on the warf itself. The nearby chandlery provides ready cans of paint and supplies to color this canvas.
So many boats have painted their names, the year, the crew, and their art. Suddenly given a glimpse of the community of sailors we are now a part of, you cannot but pause to look at them on your way by. It’s a slow scroll along the quay, reviewing those who came before us, their marks, their years, and the art they did (or didn’t) take the time to apply.
And the bottom line is, like the rest of this magical place, you are embraced into the continuity of its history.
