PORTUGAL
Azores
an anticyclonic break.
by Frédéric
Sabathié
 Where to play ?
What to see ?
Where to stay ?
Informations
Towering up out
of the Atlantic waves 1,300 kilometres from the Portuguese
coast is the green and black main island of the Azores, Sao
Miguel. The temperate climate ranges from 14°C in winter to
24°C in summer, so it is never too cold nor too hot. Here
the sun plays with the rain and there is no need to look elsewhere
for the secret of the luxurious vegetation which is its main
asset and, consequently, the even tempers of the Azores inhabitants.
Sao Miguel April 2002, The Portuguese
navigators who discovered the archipelago in the 15th century
called it 'Acores' which is a Portuguese word meaning 'vultures',
thinking that the falcons that were constantly flying over
them were vultures.
Sao Miguel,
which is 70 kilometres long by 14 kilometres wide, is the
largest island in the Azores archipelago consisting of nine
islands in all. Its landscape is a mixture of green meadows
like those found in Normandy, Swiss-like mountain ranges planted
with pines, and Iceland's intense volcanic past.
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Amongst
the first attractions the island of Sao Miguel offers are
the gentle way of life and exotic surroundings.
The island
is Portuguese and is, nevertheless, exotic with its palm-trees,
acacias and brightly coloured plants, such as hydrangeas,
azaleas, hibiscus, cannas, camellias, deadly nightshades,
rhododendrons ; etc.. Its importance lies essentially in geomorphology;
the landscape that it has moulded and the ways of live it
imposes.
As the visitor
arrives by air, he is enamoured by the unspoilt areas. If
he notices that hotel infrastructure has seen the light of
day along the coast, the inland remains sumptuous with its
green meadows and fields of lava, several metres thick, that
stretch, blistered and cracked, out of sight in black petrified
waves sometimes rising into pointed crests.
The volcanic
cones loom in a background of the blues of the sky and the
sea. The isle has dozens of volcanoes. The one at Furnas seems
to be still active. The black shining sand that covers it
is the colour of sulphur. The Caldeiras Das Furnas consists
of a group of geysers of which some have boiling water, while
others heated mud. The silence and the solitude make it really
imposing. A totally mineral universe surrounds the blue water
of the lakes which have taken up the space at the bottom of
impressive craters.
The island
of Sao Miguel is an ideal destination for the golfer who is
looking for tranquillity in a spectacular decor made up of
calm and poetry. Quite a program.
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Furnas
Fuego Lake
The beach
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