The Pico Vineyards near Madalena. A grape growing out of a crack in the Lava. Maria Gordon:Somewhere at the North End of Pico Island, AD 1449“And here, my love, is our new vineyard.”“This wasteland of black rock? Are you kidding, João?”“Maria, with a little labour we...
Gord and Vicki sitting on lava. Ruth: They are not twins, but Gord and Vicki are only 13 1/2 months apart in age. This may be the first time they have travelled together since 1969, but some patterns are deeply entrenched. Together they form a sort of sibling...
Life is good living on Pico underneath the volcano at São Roque. We are staying at Adelina’s wonderful house by the sea (Casa do mar). We stayed in her other two houses on our last trip here in February of 2019. There is a garden with ripe grapes, figs, and...
Pico in morning light. Gordon: The island of Pico gets its name from the high volcanic peak located on it. The mountain of Pico rises 3500 metres from the ocean floor, 2351 metres of which are above the waves. It is the highest point in Portugal.I had hoped to climb...
The fellow working at the tourist office proudly told me that there had been no ferry cancellations this year. There was, however, one yesterday. The reason for cancellation became very apparent when we walked the waterfront of Santa Cruz. This is, after all, the...
We are running out of roads on Graciosa. Our current challenge has been to criss cross around the island and cycle all of the paved roads at least once. We are now at about 97% with one more day left. Ok make that two, our Monday night ferry has just been postponed...
Gordon: We are starting our second week in the Azores and we are as happy as clams. This trip is structured differently from most of our outings, in that we are deliberately moving less frequently between accommodations. We have abundant time, and changing...
Ruth: Today we spent the day cycling up, into and around the caldera on Graciosa. It was a stiff, steady climb up the flank of the volcano before we popped through a tunnel in the crater wall and onto the floor of the caldera. The Azores, unlike many places, is...
Gord in the Guatalupe Cemetery Maria and Ruth Gordon: Manoel “Emmanuel” Tavare de Miranda was born on the island of Graciosa, a few kilometres from where we are staying, in 1648. He was my seventh great-grandfather.According to the genealogical records that Ruth has...
Santa Cruz da Graciosa A windmill near Santa Cruz Natural swimming pool at the North end of Graciosa Ponta da Barca September 17, 2021Ruth: We have now settled into our apartment in Santa Cruz da Grasiosa and had our first day of exploring on the Island of Graciosa in...
September 13, 2021 Gord now has a folding Bike Friday too. They are packed and ready to fly. Ruth: We are climbing out of our protective cocoons to travel for the first time in a long time. I’m not sure it is the right decision, but we are going. We bought tickets to...