Pico

Wednesday, June 18 –

Today we caught the ferry to Pico for the day.  Cecilia, a local tour guide, spent a half day showing us the island.  Having a local person really makes a huge difference in learning about the island rather than our wandering around in a rental car on our own.  Along with knowing the key spots to show us and how to get there, she shared a lot of information about daily and seasonal life on the island.

Pico is the second largest island in the Azores.  Only 1400 people live on the island.  It also has the tallest mountain in all of Portugal which is actually a volcano.  It has not erupted in about 1500 years but is still monitored for any activity.  The mountain is a major tourist attraction for hiking.  Much of the time it is clouded over or has Saturn like rings of clouds around it.  Like Flores, Pico is challenged by a very short tourist season.  July and August are very busy, June and September OK, and the rest of the year she is unemployed.  For most people it is just too cold to climb the mountain or go hiking in the winter.

Cattle, produce, and wine are the key revenue for Pico.  They export beef, cheese and wine.  They also have a tuna processing plant on the island.   The vineyards are the most amazing part of Pico.  The island is covered with black lava rock everywhere.  Locals figured out many years ago that they could build 4-5 foot stone walls out of the lava rocks and plant grape vines in between.  Each plot is small with the stone walls protecting the plants from wind and salt water.  Fig trees are also grown within the stone walls, providing them with the same protection.  Each family seems to have a small vineyard and the grapes, once harvested, go to a cooperative to be processed into wine.  They produce traditional red and white wines, and also some aperitifs from blackberry, fig, honey, and fennel.

Homes are also made with the lava rock which is cut into cubes and assembled like a traditional stone home.  It is black in color.  Roofs are all orange terra cotta.  For an island that is made up of piles of lava rock the roads, while narrow, are in excellent condition.  Cars are few and far between.

Whale watching is also a major tourist attraction, but we had that covered with the whale that visited us mid-ocean ten feet off our boat.