Our Format

A SAMPLE WEEK

Day #1 -

We will meet you at the airport, and drive you to the Hotel/ House, where you'll settle in, and get acquianted. Lunch will be served either at a local restaurant, or right in the House garden. After a chance to rest, and before dinner, we'll take a tour of the village of Santa Cruz, learn a bit about the village and the week ahead, while back at the House our chef, Rozalie cooks up a sumptuous Azorean feast.

Day #2 -

Starts as all our days will, with a relaxed breakfast of home made warm bread, butter, cheeses and fruit compotes. From the House/Hotel, we'll make our way up into the hills behind Santa Cruz, where, before long we'll be looking down on the village and its shoreline. Eventually paved roads turn to footpaths, and lead to some of the most beautiful northeastern vistas of Flores. We'll take lunch along the northeast route, at a vista featuring the island of Corvo & the verdant valley of Fazenda en route to the northern village of Ponta Delgada. Then, transported back to Santa Cruz, just in time for a late afternoon dip in the Atlantic, and a bit of relaxation before another one of Rozalie's special feasts.

Head south along the shore, then up the precipituous cliffs to the lush gorge of Ribeira Funda. Abandoned watermills and lush forest line the way. In Lomba we'll make an exploration of 19th century footpaths used by clandestine immigrants making their way to boats waiting in the old port. Transported back to Santa Cruz. Dinner will be churrasco (azorean BBQ) featuring fish, sausages, pork, chicken, and beef.

Transported to Lages. Hike a tenuous path from the hills of Lages to one of the island's most secluded and beautiful locations, the Faja Lopo Vaz. Along this secluded shore, tropical orchards thrive in a unique microclimate. We'll take lunch on the beach, then hike back up to the village, after a possible shower under a thermal waterfall. Back to Santa Cruz, tonight, dinner is in a local restaurant.

Catch an early ferry to Corvo. Pherhaps we'll sample the famous local cheese, eat our lunch overlooking Flores in the distance, and hear legends of pirates, treasures, and American war battles. Back to Flores, pherhaps a swim, Merenda.... a nap.... This evening we'll watch a sunset on a western bluff, then have dinner at the island festival, where we'll sample a pot-pourri of Florentine dishes, and partake in the festivities.

Hike the hydrangea-lined footpaths leading from the western villages to the crater lakes of Flores. If ripe, we'll pick wild black berries along the craters banks. If the day is crystal-clear, we'll stand on the highest point of the island, and see a vast Atlantic view, Corvo in the distance, and villages back to the House for good-bye dinner.