Kathleen
5/13/2013 – Pico Island
Writing this from San Miguel, as we had no internet access at our little fishing cottage on Pico Island. Pico Island is a majestic, pristine place from a time past. If you like to hike rolling green hills or rocky bluffs, to drive on volcanos and visit beautiful little fishing villages, this is the place for you! We do! It was absolutely fantastic! We rented this teeny cottage that used to belong to a fisherman. It was right on the Atlantic and the chill ocean breezes came up onto our porch in the evenings. Pico Island, Azores, is not a place for those seeking a luxury vacation. There is very little tourist infrastructure, a handful of restaurants on the whole island and the groceries have a limited selection, however, driving around this island makes you smile with delight and hiking is invigorating and special. The black volcanic rock is everywhere, and the Pico Islanders make full use of it for their homes and to make little rock walls that criss-cross and mosey through the vineyards. The black volcanic rock attracts the warm sun and the walls protect the vines from sometimes harsh island winds. We stayed in the beautiful little village of Prainha, which luckily had a fantastic little restaurant serving Azorean fare. The seafood was fantastic. I had sea bream grilled to perfection with just a hint of salt and pepper and Steve had grilled octopus, cooked perfectly to the consistency of chicken! At night we were lulled to sleep by the crashing of the waves on the rocks! If anyone is interested in a beautiful, relaxing vacation, we suggest Pico Island….the Azores are just a 4.5 hour flight from the East Coast and we can tell you about our beautiful little “Adega” that we rented from Adegas do Picos!
We arrived last night back on Sao Miguel, the principal Azorean island….but more about that later……