Islands of adventure
Forget about crowds. The Azores are an emerging destination for unique outdoor experiences
SAO MIGUEL, AZORES— Standing uneasily in knee-deep water at the top of a waterfall, wearing wet suits, harnesses and helmets, we faced our first downward challenge: Get to the bottom in one piece.
This is what that feels like: Icy water pummels your face and hands as you cling to a rope and awkwardly lower yourself as quickly as possible, trying not to scream and swallow a river’s worth of water.
Somehow, we — seven adventurers from Canada, the United States and Portugal — rappelled like pros. Applause. Euphoria. Adrenalin. We were canyoning — “surpassing obstacles” as we walked, jumped, rappelled, waded, swam and slid down a mountain stream at Ribeira dos Caldeiroes Natural Park.
“We have to be safe all the time,” said Tiago Botelho from Picos de Aventura tour company during a safety briefing before we hiked 20 minutes up a steep trail in all our gear.
“You have the option to say no and you have alternatives. There are always escape routes.”
But we didn’t need them. We leapt from rocks into natural pools, jumped three metres into the water, rappelled again (this time without a waterfall in our faces) and did a final four-metre jump into another pool under the guidance of Botelho and fellow guide Luis Botelho (no relation).
Tiago loves canyoning for five reasons: “For the adrenalin. For the rush of it. For not having a routine. To be in touch with nature. For the thrill of it.” Outdoor thrills await in the Azores. Canyoning and surfing are the most extreme activities, but there’s also golf, fishing, hiking, ATVing, birdwatching, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, horseback riding, scuba diving, whale and dolphin watching, standup paddleboarding, exploring volcanic craters, swimming in a pool where the ocean meets volcanic hot springs and good old sightseeing by van or Jeep.
Not a bad haul for an archipelago of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal that hardly anybody has heard of or knows how to pronounce ( eh-zores and ah-zor-ez are both used since the proper Portuguese pronunciation is tough).
The Azores are an autonomous region of Portugal.
Portuguese tourists come here from the mainland. So do Germans, Swedes and Danes. Lonely Planet, the Guardian and National Geographic have all raved about the Azores’ sustainable tourism and ecotourism.
Toronto’s huge Azorean diaspora visits, but now Azores Airlines wants to entice more Canadians and Americans to experience the “green islands” that are being touted as affordable “Europe without the crowds.”
Direct, five-hour flights from Toronto to Sao Miguel, the biggest island, average $800 return, but look for hotel/flight deals.
Food and drinks are affordable, and the main city, Ponta Delgada, is walkable. Splurge on full- and half-day tours, hire a private guide/driver or rent a car and go exploring yourself.
After challenging myself with canyoning, I treated myself to horseback riding.
In North America, most trail rides won’t let you go faster than a walk for liability reasons. Here, you can trot and canter (if you know what you’re doing).
Equi’Acores is a riding school that does trail rides by appointment only and will drive you from your hotel to owner Angela Furtado Gouvea’s home in Mosteiros.
Flora Medeiros saddled a Lusitano mare named Zoya for herself and a Ponei da Terceira (big pony from Terceira Island) named Dalia for me. Medeiros is 22 and home for the summer from London, where she’s completing a master’s degree.
“My mom raised me not to stay here, but I really like horses and I really like the island,” Medeiros confided. “Things are starting to change.”
It’s tough to make a good living in the Azores, where dairy, milk and cheese production, agriculture and fishing are still the main industries. Many people work in tourism and most have multiple jobs.
We rode, mostly in meditative silence, for hours on dirt trails around Sete Cidades, a volcanic crater famous for containing a pair of sideby-side lakes, one blue, one green.
Hikers, cyclists, a few cars and quads passed us, but mostly we communed with lush greenery, dairy cows, quiet forests, volcanic rocks and the odd bird.
Gouvea brought us a picnic lunch to a lagoon called Lagoas Empadadas. Chourico and blood sausage. Bread and cheese. Meat tarts. She now offers eight-day packages, letting horse lovers stay at her farm and take a different ride each day.
We rode for another hour or so after lunch, but our bellies were full and our leisurely pace even slower. My body was exhausted. My mind was at peace.
One of my other Azorean adventures was spiritual, with Jorge Valerio, the 25-year-old dynamo who created Holistika tours two years ago with Lisa Moreira.
They conduct small group tours of Sao Miguel, nine people maximum, with a wellness bent, adding things such as reiki, yoga, massage, meditation, drumming, healing sounds and breathing exercises to any adventure.
Valerio sensed my exhaustion and set a languid pace as we explored Sete Cidades, driving through empty villages full of people celebrating a Catholic holiday behind closed doors. It was hot then cold, windy then calm, sunny then rainy — a fourseason, otherworldly Azorean day.
“What I do is adapt to people,” said Valerio. “We have not so very good weather, so we have to adapt and not follow a line.”
He regaled me with island history, religion and folklore, shared his thoughts on tourism and tourists and invited me to his concert in Gruta do Carvao cave that night in Ponta Delgada, and an all-day “Exchange With Your Heart” music/art/dance/ wellness event two days later at Terra Nostra Park in Furnas.
He introduced me to lupini beans, a snack usually eaten with beer, and took me for my first Azorean meal, a traditional buffet at Restaurante da Ferraria starring alcatra, a slowcooked Azorean meat, and wine.
What we physically did, though, was go to the most magical place on Sao Miguel — Termas da Ferraria. It’s a rocky “pool” in the ocean where you feel the incoming cold Atlantic water mix with hot, thermal volcanic waters.
At low tide, the water is hot, shallow and calm. We came at high tide, when the sea was rough. We had to cling to a rope strung across the pool when the waves rolled in, and the water was a startling mix of hot and cold pockets.
Valerio wants people on his tours to realize anything is possible. Holistika’s motto is “Meet your own nature.”
I haven’t pieced it together yet, but water, rocks and ropes seem to be sending me a message. Jennifer Bain was hosted by Azores Airlines, which didn’t review or approve this story.