Santa Maria
SĂŁo Miguel
Terceira
Graciosa
SĂŁo Jorge
Pico
Faial
Flores
Corvo
Real Estate
About
Activities
Bird WatchingBird watching, a hobby in all islands # Whale WatchingWhale watchers paradise # A port of call for all yachtsmenIn Horta - Faial # Big Game FishingBest fishing in the Atlantic # HikingExcellent hiking and trekking # Whale WatchingCourtesy of Picos de Aventura # GolfGolf in S. Miguel and Terceira # Fail is the island of nautical sports and a must stop for all serious yachtsmen. Horta bay and the Pico-Fail straight know as "O Canal" (the channel) to the locals, are privileged areas for practicing sailing, windsurfing and rowing. The curvy coast, the volcanic ocean floor and the wealth of flora and fauna provide divers with hours of pleasure. But it is yachting that best defines its vocation as an island that lives for the sea. Just a few short years ago, yachting was an infrequent stop and any arrival was an event. Now there are hundreds of yachts that make Horta their mandatory port of call for crossings the Atlantic or the vertex of a triangle that ends on the coasts of America or Europe. Famous names in yachting such as Joshua Slocum, the first lone navigator to sail round the world. Tabarly, Sir Francis Chichester, Malinovsky and Fougeron have anchored their boats in the blue waters of the port on their historic voyages. Horta is also the port of arrival or call for international regattas. The Horta marina has expanded the capacity to receive and support large port yachts, thus consecrating the town nautical and sporting tradition, and consolidating its role as a safe and welcoming port on the North Atlantic. Horta is the ideal starting point for a dream cruise round the archipelago. To unravel its secrets, spend pleasant days in good company, appreciating the vast clear horizons shaded by the greenery and masses of flowers of the islands. The myth of the paintingsNo one knows how and when it started, but one day, several years ago, a crew member of a sailing ship anchored at Horta decided he should leave a painted souvenir of his stay in Faial on the thick wall of the dock. The first painting was followed by others until now they take up the whole length of the wall. New ones are painted over old ones, and that irregular dark surface has been transformed into a colorful mosaic of drawings and words recalling the many yachts that have docked in Horta. Meanwhile, a superstition began circulating with the locals stating that boats which, for one reason or another, have failed to leave a record of their presence have suffered grave accidents. Therefore every yachtsman picks up brushes and paint and sketches out drawings and words referring to the boat or the trip, true "works of art" of modern sailors. Fishing and the recordsThe sea triangle made up of the islands of Faial, Pico and Sao Jorge constitutes one of the richest big game fishing reserves of the Atlantic, a challenge to the skill of sports fishermen who want to break European and world records already set in its waters. Combative, large-sized sharks, bonitos, pecos, sword and tuna fish, are the most frequent catches. Fishing from rocks and line fishing from boats make it possible to catch the species that are most abundant in the waters of the Azores: common sea bream, sword fish, barracuda, amberjack, oceanic bonito, bluefish bream, snapper bream, tuna, congerl, moray, Jack Grevale and mackeral. This can be besty done in Laginha, Castelo Branco, Costa Brava, Cedros, Almoxarife and Espalamaca. Pico - The neighboring islandOnly a few miles separate Faial from Pico, a distance that is overcome by speedy boats several times a day, with regular sailing from the port of Horta to the town of Madalena which lies opposite to it. You can leave for Pico in the morning and come back in the evening. The crossing takes about 30 minutes. The pleasure of walkingFaial does not have heights and scarps that present a challenge to the climber or hiker. However its lovely green landscape, cut by masses of hydrangeas is an invitation to invigorating walks that offer the possibility of enjoying its charms, and discovering small treasures of beauty that can be found at the top of a hill or on the slopes of a valley. Events
Sata Rallye AzoresEvent included in the IRC Challenge. # Festivities of Our Lord of Miracles.The biggest religious festivals in the Azores. # SanjoaninasFeasts of St. John in Angra, Terceira Island. #
The traditional and characteristic Festivals of the Holy Ghost, which are of medieval origin, are held in almost every parish in Faial from spring till the end of August, with colorful ceremonies and the celebrated “festas” at which you can taste such mouth-watering dishes as the sopas do Espirito Santo, roast meat, massa sovada, and the rice dessert called arroz doce. The St. John's festivals on the 24th June attract pilgrims from all over the island to the leafy park of Largo Jaime Melo where, to the sound of music played by bands and groups of stringed instruments, picnics are enjoyed, there is dancing and a good time is had by all. "Semana do Mar" (Sea Week)The Horta port is full of dozens of sailing ships with their colourful sails and flags. The town is dominated by the happy music of bands and groups of stringed instruments, the songs and dances of folk music groups, the animation of a charity sale, the delicious aroma of the tasty morsels served at stands, art and handicraft exhibitions, dances and conviviality. But the festival is dedicated to the sea, and on its waters there is a regatta in the Faial-Pico channel, besides competitions of sailing, windsurfing, swimming and fishing, not to mention aquatic games for youngsters. Every year, from the first to the second Sunday in August it confirms Horta's vocation as a cosmopolitan meeting town that lives from and for the sea. The Festivals of the Patron SaintsEach village has its own saint to which it is particularly devoted. And every year, mainly in the summer months, the image of the saint is carried in procession. Gastronomy
AlcatraA typical dish of Terceira Island. # Cozido nas FurnasCooked in the boilers of Furnas,in SĂŁo Miguel. # Sopas do EspĂrito SantoIn Santa Maria, the tradition remains unchanged. # Biscoitos de OrelhaWares typical of Santa Maria. # Although Faial faces the sea and received from it various influences over the centuries, the cooking of Faial does not contain any exotic dishes that stray from Azorean traditions. There are the substantial dishes of linguiça com inhames (sausages and yams), molha de carne (a meat speciality), morcelas de porco (a pork blood sausage), torresmos de vinha-de-alhos (bacon prepared with wine and garlic), sopas do Espirito Santo (beef broth) and also caldo de peixe (fish soup), caldeirada (fish stew) and polvo guisado com vinho (octopus stewed in wine), accompanied by maize bread and massa sovada (sweet bread). Lovers of shell-fish will be delighted at the taste of the local lobsters, cavaco, deep-water crabs and delicious arroz de lapas (limpets cooked with rice). The llha and other cheeses produced on Faial, as well as the sweet with the picturesque name of fofas, provide a good close to a meal. HandicraftScrimshawWorks made ​​of bone and whale tooth. # CeramicsCommon in San Miguel, in the village of Lagoa. # Miolo de FigueiraWork from fig tree pith. # EmbroideryBeautiful pieces of artwork #
The handicraft products of Faial are as lovely as the island where they are made. There are fine and delicate straw embroideries on tulle, flowers made from fish scales, towels and other decorations in cut paper, the artistic crochet lace-work that is so characteristic in its motifs and delicate transparency. Or the straw hats that last years of sun and rain, the most aristocratic top-hat of bright, firm straw, recalling elegant country fashions of times gone by, the purses of woven straw with decorative cords and the wickerwork.
The delicate and unique art of fig-tree wood
Probably originating in the skilful hands of nuns in convent cloisters, the art of turning fig-tree wood into wonderful miniatures has been practiced in Faial since the middle of the l9th century. Its main master was Euclides Rosa, who transformed fig-tree wood into the delicate and marvelous pieces that are the pride of the Horta Museum. Cut in thin, transparent strips, the fig-tree wood, with much skill and patience and a minimum of glue, gives rise to houses and windmills, flowers and animals, ships and delicate and fragile figures.
The scrimshaw tradition
It was the rough sailors of the whalers of yore who brought to the Faial the technique of carving designs on whale's teeth, the ivory of the sea. Designs such as ships with their sails full, tempting sirens and whale hunting scenes are typical. The whalers have gone but the difficult art of scrimshaw has remained in Faial. Hard-working and skilful craftsmen, using centuries-old techniques, record on valuable, rare whale's teeth the adventurous atmosphere of a past that is ever more distant, recalled with imagination and art.
The unusual “capote-e-capelo”
A large cape that covered a woman's figure, allowing only a glimpse of her face, the origin of the “capote-e-capelo” is controversial. Some say that it came from Flanders and others state that it is an adaptation of mantles and cowls that were fashionable in Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries. Regardless, for centuries the “capote-e-capelo” was a typically Azorean woman's garment used in Faial. Varying from island to island in the cut of the cape and the arrangement of the cowl, Faial had the extravagant shape of a wedge resting on the shoulders and which jutted out in front for over a palm. The common characteristic of the “capote-e-capelo” was that it was made of a strong, heavy electric-blue cloth that lasted for generations and was handed down from mothers to daughters. The women of the Azores stopped wearing the “capote-e-capelo” around the 1930's.
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