Miradouro Pico de Mafra

Time to write a bit about Mosteiros, the village I picked to stay for two months.

It lies in the west of the island of São Miguel in the Azores. The population of the whole civil parish was 1123 in 2011, in an area of 8.95 square kilometres.

Fishing is still practiced with nets and also with handline method, and agriculture dominates in the interior, with herding of dairy cattle and the cultivation of some fruits and vegetables.

Viewed from above, you can see 3 sections of coast. The natural sea pools in the rocks on the right, the harbour in the middle and the sandy beach on the left.

It is a very popular parish in the summer, both by residents of the island and by national and foreign tourists. Ideal place for those who love the coast and the sea, whether for bathing or fishing, or to kayak along the coast. In winter there are very few tourists.

Since 2016 it has been possible to take boat trips from the port and see whales and dolphins or visit the islets or Ferraria by sea but in January the sea is too wavy.

It is possible to enjoy one of the most beautiful sunsets on the island.

It was only around 1480, that the first people began to settle this part of the island, mostly by the maritime access, for many years. The community of Mosteiros was built on ancestral fishing for many years, even as its territory was cultivated by farmers.

The name Mosteiros, meaning monastery, refers to nearby islets: the largest of these islets is shaped like a church.

"Between the large islet and ponta Ruiva, by the cliffs, until the promontory of Escalvados, there are some large depressions and well made fumaroles, in the form of a church, or monasteries, or of both things, that older settlers called the monasteries [Mosteiros], situated on the fajã that ran from the peak in Sete Cidades".Read more