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Azores
  • Sean Plamondon
  • Tita Pampano
  • Sean Plamondon
  • Tita Pampano

Azores

A 12-day adventure by Sean & Tita Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 4, 2026
    Azores

    And we are off !

    April 4 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Long travel day for Tita from Brantford. And i made my day a lot longer than it had to be. But we made it onto the flight yay!

    Adventure in azores starts tomorrow!

  • Azores

    San Miguel Island - Day 1

    April 5 in Portugal ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    Arrived around 730am and painfully waited an eternity to get through customs before finally into a taxi to our apartment rental in downtown ponta delgada. There was no reception but luckily ran into a staff member who sorted us out and straight to bed until about 2pm cuz we didnt sleep on the plane.

    Spent the afternoon strolling the pretty cobblestone streets, and stopping here and there for nibbles and refreshments. Lots closed for easter sunday, but managed to find some quaint places to relax.

    Broke out the backgammom board, taught Tita how to play the greek rules and she promptly beat me badly. She is a quick study!

    Tita also discovered her cousin from Lisbon is on vacation with his family here in ponta delgada too who she had not seen in 35 years. They came and joined us at the Louvre cafe for a late beverage and reunion. And capped the night off at a nearby bar where we met 4 other canadians, 2 from Ottawa.

    Great start.    Read more

  • Azores

    Pico - Day 1

    April 6 in Portugal ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    Quick 45 min flight from San Miguel island to Pico island. Mostly famous for two things. The tallest mountain in all of Portugal. And a completely unique volcanic wine region of the world.

    Picked up our rental car from the airport and as soon as we exited the airport, we could tell we were in the wine country part of the island.

    Literally less than a 5 minute drive and we were driving on the ocean coast with easily the biggest waves i have ever seen, sprays of water hitting our car, and we werent even close the rocky shore.

    As we made our way to a nearby winery, we were super puzzled by all the mazes of two foot high stone walls everywhere. Apparently they protect the vines from the elements enough to provide an extra 2-3 degrees of warmth. And oh boy we could have used an extra couple of degrees ourselves. Brrrr. I wished i had a rocky wall around me yesterday :)

    Ordered a couple of glasses of white and a big charcuterie board and stayed about 90 minutes enjoying the incredible views, awesome wine and nibbles and each others company :)

    Drove into the cute town of Madelena and found the apartment we rented, quickly unloaded and got back in the car to tour the island. Drove along the coast for 30 minutes then up up up into the mountains. Fantastic views but unfortunately lots of clouds obstructing everything. Literally driving in the clouds. Very hard to capture in photos.

    Back to the apartment for a quick rest. Then found a cute tapas restaurant for some fish soup, also ordered one "broken egg" to share which i called the azores version of poutine. Fried eggs over top of bacon and ham, over top of fries and some other light sauce in there too.

    Found another pub to resume our backgammon matches, and finished the day back at our apartment, playing backgammon, drinking a delicious bottle of wine tita bought at the vineyard and some music. For those keeping score, i made a furious comeback 😁    Read more

  • Azores

    Pico Island - Day 2

    April 7 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    First thing after getting up, we drove back up pico mountain hoping for better luck with the clouds. And we did get a bit lucky with the clouds occasionally shifting and we saw the peak for the first time. The base lodge area for ascents was crazy cold and windy with a fair amount of snow, so i abandoned any thoughts of trying to hike to the summit.

    Instead, we drove down tons of winding mountain roads to a volcanic crater. Couldnt find the trailhead to hike to the top of it and Tita's ankle was hurting, so i dropped off Tita back in town and drove back to the crater and eventually just parked the car and hiked to the top. The crater was smaller than i thought, but great views as i circled the rim.

    Back to town, picked up Tita and went to another wine tasting at Solar Terra Brum winery just outside of town. Very authentic old structures, estate and vineyard. Tasted 4 wines with some cheeses and got a verrrry detailed explanation of the wines, process and history from our guide.

    Drove up the coast a bit and climbed over some volcanic rocks to take in the massive waves and explosions as they crashed into the shore.

    While Tita rested, i went for a drive to the northern coast and found some fantastic volcanic inlets with massive tital pools and geysers of water. Then visited the oldest winery of pico, had a quick taster of 2 of their wines before heading back to rest a while too.

    Found a great restaurant with local cuisines for supper before eventually heading back to our apartment for some wine and backgammon.    Read more

  • Azores
    1

    Faial island

    April 9 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Started the day driving to the north coast to take in the extremely rugged volcanic coastline together. Its amazing how different the south coast is from the north coast. Drove through several volcanic black stone villages and walked around some violent tidal pools with huge wave collisions with the rocks.

    Then off to the ferry port to cross over to the island of Faial. Easily the smallest ferry i have ever been on to cross an oceanic body of water. Only 30 minutes but it was rough. The boat got tossed around pretty good, and Tita's tummy even moreso.

    Arrived at the town of Horta and straight to the hotel. Had a quick lunch in the old town and then we both rested for a few hours to shake off the rough ferry ride and catch up a bit on sleep.

    Then got to the seaside and had a beer at famous sailor bar Peter Cafe Sport. Wandered some pretty streets and would up at a very authentic seafood restaurant Atletico for supper. And finished our evening lounging on the couches off our hotel lobby with more backgammon. I am not allowed to indicate who has been winning lately, so i shall not breach that trust 😉    Read more

  • Azores
    2

    Flores Island - Day 1

    April 9 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    With a late afternoon flight to Flores Island, we decided to take advantage of the remaining hours on Faial island by renting a car and seeing the rest of the island.

    Drove to the center of the island to a huge crater at the top of the mountain. Fantastic views on the way up but unfortunately as we got closer to the top, we were completely immersed into clouds that gave almost zero visibility.

    Drove down the other side of the crater and followed the coastline to a volcanic area with a massive rock formation jutting up from the ocean. Hiked up part of it for some awesome views. Wild landscapes. Then eventually made our way to the airport.

    Upon landing, picked up another rental car to explore Flores with. Our lodging is across the other side of the small island. But its entirely mountainous, so getting anywhere takes time to wind our way up and down mountains plus lots of stops for pictures too. Incredibly dramatic scenery at every turn.

    Arrived finally at our hotel and wow what a location. Nestled between mountains with waterfalls and the ocean are tons of rustic stone cabins. Ours was just about the furthest away possible from reception which makes for a gorgeous stroll down very rough cobblestone lanes.

    Drove 20 minutes across other jaw dropping mountains to get some wine for our cabin. Then a fantastic meal at the reception area's restaurant and finished the night by woodstove fire in our cabin, with some wine and games.    Read more

  • Azores

    Flores Island - Day 2

    April 11 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Slept in and started the day with lunch at a restaurant situated by the ocean next to a mountain. And tons of different waterfalls coming down the mountain.

    After lunch, went to a nearby towering waterfall over 130m high. Nice easy walkway to get there. Unfortunately for Tita, all the other waterfalls were much less accessible for her injured ankle. Tita decided to relax back at the cabin and heated pool while i went exploring into the hills.

    The next set of waterfalls took about 15 mins uphill on a marked trail to a river and from there could see 10 different waterfalls stretching across the mountain. But couldnt find a way across the river to get closer. Still, very beautiful sight.

    The other waterfalls had no marked trails. Determined to reach them, I drove back and forth on the road looking for openings between stone walls and houses that might lead me closer. Found two such openings onto very faintly established paths but i did manage to reach two more waterfalls with my perseverence. Half the reward was just successfully managing to stay on the path and looking for things that would guide me through the trees the right direction.

    One of the two waterfalls i reached was impressively high. While underneath it, i couldnt see the top because it cascades off a few different ledges on the way down. But incredible feeling to stand underneath it. I was all smiles.

    Then back to the cabin to relax with Tita for the rest of the afternoon and evening. While playing cards we discovered two young cats took an interest in our cabin, so we let them in and they cuddled up on a bench together for a few hours away from the elements and they wanted back out just as we went to bed.    Read more

  • Azores

    San Miguel Island - Day 2

    April 11 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Sadly checked out of our rustic cabin and did the lovely drive all the way down the west coast, across the south and up the east coast. Up and down mountains the whole way, along the ocean. Very striking island throughout.

    Two hour flight to San Miguel island, plus an hour to get the car and some time for Tita's parents' plane to arrive got us settled into the new hotel mid to late afternoon. And luckily the sun doesnt go down until after 8pm here so we still had some time to explore while Tita's parents rested.

    Drove to the eastern part of the island to see a huge crater with a gorgeous lake in it and wow it did not disappoint. Amazing views from atop the crater rims. Then drove to the north coast and found a really nice restaurant high above the water for a beverage and then back to ponta delgada to go out for supper with Tita's parents. Had a quick nightcap and early in bed to rest up from a long busy day    Read more

  • Azores

    San Miguel Island - Day 3

    April 12 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Joined a 9am whale watching tour. Unfortunately, no one told the whales. A few had very brief surfaces but otherwise didnt really see much. However, was extremely blessed by a very active and bunch of showoff dolphins on the boat ride back. Occasionally jumping out of the water in synchronicity together.

    Back on dry land, Tita and i drove to Furnas, famous for its volcanic hot springs, steam coming out of the ground, a natural crater lake and a unique cooking style: putting the food underground and letting the heat of the volcano cook it. We had one of these meals and it was worth the drive. Very tasty. Plus the drive itself was gorgeous through the mountains. Stopped at the lake for a stroll and headed back to Ponta Delgado.

    Met up with Tita's parents for supper at Piteu, which is a place we found last week with a pretty good buffet of local dishes. Then Tita and i also went back to the Louvre winebar and finished the evening at Resves. All the staff remembered us from last week.

    Before leaving, they gave us a black light and a black light marker and asked us to write on the walls or furniture. Very unique hilarious concept. We both signed a bench seat together. I signed a lamp shade and tita also signed the bathroom paper dispenser haha. Maybe had to be there 😁

    I have been told to mention the current backgammon score is 3-2, and not in my favour. Yet 😁    Read more

  • Azores

    San Miguel island - Day 4

    April 13 in Portugal ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    Started the morning with a 90 minute drive to the far southeast part of the island to hike some waterfall trails. The drive there was spectacular winding roads up and down mountains and high above the ocean.

    I had asked my hotel reception guy for a semi challenging hike to a nice waterfall and he pinpointed Sanguinho on a map for me and said it was an hour hike. I hiked uphill 40 mins and came across a fork in the road. One sign saying Prego waterfall and the other Sanguinho. This really confused me but i went with Sanguinho as per the hotel guy. Which turned into a hard 40 minutes uphill to some old houses and a nice view down to the ocean. But no waterfall.

    I hiked back down to that fork and went the other way. Chatted with two girls coming back and they said i was 10 mins from the falls. 2 mins later came across another fork in the trail and two different waterfalls on the signposts. One uphill, one downhill. Decided to do the uphill one first. Oh boy, i had no idea what i got myself into. Another really steep hour hike to yet another fork. This time chose the downhill and voila, finally a waterfall after 20 more minutes. Bit small but very nice. Went back and did the uphill fork and it was a meandering trail thru the forest next to a river for about 30 minutes until i hit a ton of mud and turned around and back to the fork.

    Hiked an hour all the way back to the very first fork and finally to the main waterfall where i rested my exhausted legs. And wrote my blog for a while. Fair number of young girls sitting on rocks behind me giggling away until i finally looked up and saw two huge naked bums 10 feet in front of me wading into the waterfall pool. Got back on the trails before that naked couple returned and finally all the way down to my car.

    Tita and parents got a taxi and met me in Furnas which is half way between my hike and our hotel. We were going to do the volcanic hot springs and botanical garden but unfortunately it was closed. So we settled for another yummy meal with the food cooked underground via volcanic heat.

    Back to Ponta Delgada, Tita and i went to a pub for some more backgammon (4-4 now) and ran into Helder who was bartending. We met Helder the very first night of our trip, very nice to see him again. Super nice guy. Tita ended up signing the canadian flag hanging from the ceiling before we left haha. Literally leaving our mark on this town 😆    Read more

  • Azores

    San Miguel island - Day 5

    April 14 in Portugal ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    Got up early and drove an hour to the northeast coast to hike to another waterfall. This one was much easier, only about 15 minutes to reach it, and worth the drive to get there. There were lots of other trails and waterfalls there as well, but i wasnt sure how difficult nor if worth it. Plus my legs were pretty sore from the day before.

    Decided to get back into the car and go to a different waterfall trail near the south coast. Drove over mountain tops on secondary winding roads but huge rain clouds swept in and i had next to zero visibility for most of the drive. Could barely see 20 feet in front of me. And when i finally got to the map location, i couldnt find any sign or trailhead. Probably for the best because it rained really hard shortly after starting my drive back.

    Took an hour nap, and then Tita and I headed out to join our off-roading tour and quickly got acquainted with our dune buggy. Was about 4 hours driving all over the island, from south coast to north coast and back. Hilarious fun. Our tour group had 4 people on ATVs and two dune buggies. It amazed me how well that thing could drive over just about any road pothole, curb, small dogs, and not even feel a thing. And oh boy did i have fun proving that fact! 😁 My favourite part by far was gunning the buggy through a small creek.. wow were we wet haha!! (See attached vid)

    After a really loooong shower to get all the dirt and mud off, met back up with Tita's parents at an awesome azorean fusion restaurant for our last meal together. Then headed out to the pub that Helder works at where we met a bunch of canadians from a cruise ship. Took them to our favourite bar Resves and of course showed them the ropes on signing the walls with black pen. Some sad goodbyes to the staff and promises to try to return soon. Fantastic end to an amazing trip!!!    Read more

    Trip end
    April 15, 2026
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