The day started as our Azores Air plane landed in Ponta Delgada in rain on a spectacular landing strip that runs right along the water. The island is a lush green, with palm trees, flowers, and vegetable gardens everywhere. We were through customs, had our bags, and were in our itty bitty manual car headed for Vila Franco do Campo in under an hour. We are on the Island of Sao Miguel for the next four days (and return for two more at the end).
The house we rented on AirBnB is so lovely, and Duarte, our host, was as welcoming as we could ever have hoped. This holiday home has been lovingly created by Duarte’s family… his son designed the renovation, his wife has decorated it and contributed much of the beautiful needlework, and Duarte tends to it with great care. The back yard is spectacular, with a distant view of the religious site Nossa Senhora da Paz. The trail up there leaves from the end of our street. We’re saving the hike for a sunny day, assuming we get one, as the views of the village and ocean are supposed to be amazing.
Our hosts left us a welcome basket of local treats… bananas, a pineapple, milk, tea (the Azores are home to the only tea plantation in Europe) and the famous bolo levedo, which is a sweet Portuguese bread in the form of an oversized English muffin. Beyond fresh and good. And then there was wine “from the Continent.”
He had us enter our pin on the map. For friends still wondering where the Azores are… we’re right there in the middle of the Atlantic (see the white flag), 2,000 miles east of New York and 900 miles west of Lisbon. (Side note… in the early days of trans-Atlantic flight, before planes were capable of doing the full stretch, they would stop here to refuel.)
Our first encounters with the people of this sweet village this afternoon were truly remarkable. After a morning nap to recover from our sleepless red-eye flight from Toronto to Ponta Delgada, we ventured down the street to the village. At the first shop we went into, I asked the shopkeeper for directions to the “famous bakery.” The owner insisted that we be escorted there. A lovely employee of 20 years walked us to the door of the bakery (which is right down by the marina), four or five blocks away from the shop, and we had a nice talk on the way. How is that for a warm welcome?
Now let’s talk about those pastries… Quijadas de Vila Franca do Campo. They are loved and sold all over the island, but this is the bakery where they are made. It is hard to describe these treats, as they are truly unique, but there are something of a filo-type muffin cup with a custardy bread filling, topped with sugar — each individually wrapped. We got a box of six and an espresso to go for about $6. Many of these are coming home with us to share with friends and family.
So that was our first planned mission for the trip. The second mission of our day was unplanned. Rachel forgot her contact case. We had no success finding one at the airport, and set off in this tiny town to try to solve the problem. We stumbled upon a small, independent optometrist shop in the village (a lucky find in itself, as this is a very small village with just a few shops). The sweet man who owned the shop spoke no English, but Rachel pointed to her eyes, and I made two circles with my hands, and he understood exactly what we needed. He handed her a case, and would not take any money from us. Now keep in mind that this was one of those travel mistakes that I would have paid good money to solve, which made it all the sweeter. Another warm welcome.
This village is so authentic and charming. The people have been absolutely wonderful and generous in ways I do not recall encountered any place is my life. We are very happy to be here, and have slowed down to meet the slow pace of this wonderful place.
This village has an old world charm not marred by tourism. As much as I have loved all the places I’ve been recently, this feels fundamentally different. Welcoming of visitors, but not shaped by them.