Ilhéus dos Mosteiros

When I'm looking for a place to spend the winter, there are a few things I pay attention to.

I want to be able to see the sunset, the sea can't be too far away, and the microclimate has to be right. I also have a few requirements for the apartment itself, but above all, the microclimate is important if I'm going to be spending two months there.

Finding the right microclimate isn't quite so simple, so I consult climate charts, monthly averages for temperature, cloud cover, wind, and rainfall, study the major air and ocean currents in the area, and, most importantly, carefully examine the local topography in relation to it.

This time, too, my analyses were correct: if there's any sunshine on the island, it's here. Even after a long and stressful workday, I'm in a beautiful place, watching the sunset, the sea, and the Mosteiros Islets

The Ilhéus dos Mosteiros (literally, Islets of the Monasteries) are four uninhabited rocky islets located about 1 km from Mosteiros.

The Mosteiros Islets gave the neighboring municipality of Mosteiros its name. According to Azorean chronicler Gaspar Frutuoso, the earliest settlers to the area thought the largest of the islets looked like a church or monastery, and therefore named the islets and their settlement Mosteiros. Frutuoso noted:

"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."

The Mosteiros Islets are the exposed remains of a submarine volcanic cone heavily eroded by the sea over time. The islets are composed of compacted palagonite tuff rock. The maximum altitude of the islets is 72 metres above sea level.Read more