The Rural Island Paradise Of The Atlantic

The Portuguese island of Faial is an uncommon but well-worthy travel destination. From the UK the only way you can get there is via Lisbon. Then it's a three hour flight across the Atlantic. 

I was invited by friends who have a property there and I was looking forward to a rural retreat. The island is part of an archipelago formed by volcanos.

To make the most of the transit time, we took at 6.30am flight from Heathrow. There was a two hour stopover in Lisbon so we kicked off our holiday was a couple of beers at the airport. 

Hours later we landed at Horta airport, situated right by the sea. The sun was shining and it was blissfully warm. What a way to arrive!

As seen from the plane, there are black volcanic rocks lining the blue shores. The land was lush green with blooming hedgerows. 

We picked up our hire car and headed to the house, passing the quaint town of Horta where they were setting up the festival, Sea Week. I felt immediate ease and tranquility here. 

Ornate ginger flowers and lilac hydrangeas grew alongside the road. There was far more space for pastures than houses and it seemed like every one of them had a view of the sea.

The island has a spectacular view of Portugal's highest mountain Pico, also the name of it's island. There are always clouds hanging around Pico but they pass and its a special sight when the whole mountain is visible. 

We passed tiny villages and the colloquially named "dirty" store by the ex-pat locals. It's a general store selling everything from local produce to gas cylinders. And after crossing a little bridge and a final hill, we pulled into our home for the next four days. 

The house is surrounded by pastures and the only fencing are rock walls. A cosy place where I could envisage writing my memoirs with a view of Pico someday. Aside from the view, another special feature is that a stream runs on the side of the house. And I mean just over the verandah is the stream!

The area is protected as it's only permitted to build over existing ruins. Many houses were abandoned after earthquakes and a volcano. No wonder it's still a peaceful place today. It was only us and a dozen or so grazing cows here. 

For lunch we had cheese, honey and bread from the dirty store. All local of course.

At this point I had a raging headache, possibly from the early morning start and the breakfast beers. I took a nap and had no inclination to drink the rest of the day. I volunteered to be the designated driver for the night. 

It was my first time driving on the other side of the road which was slow and I attempted to change gears with the window control. 

We went to the nearby beach, Praia do Almoxarife, for dinner. It was a black sand beach.

We watched the sun set with a few beers and a mineral water for me. The beach was quiet with only a few locals around.

We started dinner with fresh soft local cheese served with chilli sauce. I ordered grilled whole fish from a choice of five different catches of the day. My fish was grilled longer than preferred but that's how they do it in Portugal. It was huge for one person!