An Odyssey to Azores in Portugal

Have you ever hiked a volcano in the middle of the Atlantic? 

Let’s start at the beginning. I planned a trip to go to Madeira island to hike this volcano from West to East for 145km of hiking. When planning this one, I noticed that I wasn’t going to have much time there. I decided to add 2 more Portugal islands to the list: Pico and Faial islands in Azores, Portugal. 

After a long flight to Lisbon, an overnight there and an early wake up to take another flight; I arrived to Faial Island, one of the many island of the Azores.

From the airport I took 2 taxis that brought me to the coast of the ocean in Riberinha.

From there I was started a long hike through the island, from east coast to west coast.

I started the hike with the goal of sleeping at the highest point of the island, an old Volcano right into the middle of Faial.

I came across many villages, farms, abandoned buildings, and forests. I saw cows, pigs, sheep, dense forests covering beautiful water. The way up was easier than expected, even if at one time I was not sure to be able to have a great view of the sunset, since the sky was getting cloudy. But I still continued the path to to top. The closest I got from it, the better I could see the sunlight shine through the clouds. It payed off! At the summit, I got a beautiful sunset view, the kind of sunset I’ve been dreaming about. The fog blended with the sun and created a pink backdrop. It was crazy. I remember telling myself: “Wow, I really love my life”.

After this beautiful show, I got my tent setup with hopes of having an equally beautiful morning the next day. Spoiler alert, I didn’t go as planned.

The night turned into a nightmare. The thing about sleeping on an island is, the Atlantic wind came in a gust. So yes, the wind started to get stronger and stronger, the rainfall poured. The tent started to bend down on me. The storm was so strong, that the rain seeped through (that have humidity cause of me breathing) and was touching my sleeping bag. What was the verdict? Everything in the tent was wet. The microphone for the film I was doing that night, broke.

The next day I woke up with no sign of the sun. I packed my things and started walking on the ridge of the volcano, taking my time because at this point I still had hope of seeing the sun. There was no chance, it was rainy and foggy all the way to around 3 pm. But I continued walking, because of my optimism.

On the way down I passed many volcanos, jungles and alot of fog.

I was feeling a bit down about the weather, until… On one of the last volcanos before reaching the ocean coast, I started to see the clouds getting thinner. A boost in moral. I started hiking faster to the last volcano at the West end of the island. I was alone there with all these black rocks, dusty craters, high cliffs and the ocean. The sun started to go down and the colour it reflected on the ocean was just incredible.

After 2 days, I took a night in a hotel in Faial. The shower felt so good after so many cold nights.

The day after I took a fairy to Pico island, camped somewhere in the middle of the island, because I knew that the next day would be a big one. It was actually one of the main reasons of visiting the Azores. The highest peak of Portugal is there. Montanha do Pico with is 2351 meters above sea level.

The plan was to hike  down to reach the ocean. It almost did go as plan, but I had to improvise a little.

The way up did go well. It’s a steady hike, and anyone with good health could do it.

The view was incredible. I could see Faial on one side with the big volcano in the middle that I had slept on. On the other side it was the biggest semi-active volcano in Portugal. On the way up, the clouds were really intense. I had just enough time to catch a great view at 2351 meters. The feeling at the top was really strange. Because the volcano is semi-active, the rock was so hot that it created very dense humidity.

When the clouds started to come back, I made my way down. There were 2 big clouds formation, and it was definitely something I had never seen before.

I finally arrived at the bottom of the mountain, and followed a trail that I had found online. I discovered a small village, and saw one opened restaurant, the only one opened in the whole village. I asked the owner if it was possible to call me a taxi to go to Madalena (a bigger village nearby with an actual hotel). The owner told me that there were no taxis at that time (8pm). At the very same moment, the owner’s friend entered the restaurant and offered to bring me to the next village. It was a 30 minute car ride. I was finally able to get a room in the only operational hotel in that town.

I was almost at the end of my trip, my next flight was to Maderia. I go back to Faial to get a nice hotel room next to the airport. The hotel owner told me about a secret tunnel at the end of the field that went directly to the ocean. I left my backpack in my room, and walked to that tunnel. It was a 5 minute walk in the dark, no lights except for a small circle of light at the end. When I got out, the sun appeared again. 

Thank you for reading my story. I invite you to go on my YouTube Channel if you want to see the video version of this adventure. 

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