7thJune Horta, Faial 38:31.959N 028:37.525W

Whisper
Noel Dilly
Sat 8 Jun 2013 19:55
7th June - Horta, Faial

Yesterday, we caught the local bus and took a ride around the island.  It was good to have a birds eye view over the hedge rows and to see the distant volcanoes which we hope to visit on foot.   As in Flores everywhere is very green, but they do not have the drystone walls to divide the fields but hedgerows.  The island produces crops and many dairy products.  Each of the Azores islands produce their own cheese and we are enjoying trying them.  The road around the island was noticeably quiet, nothing like the amount of traffic we encountered on Madeira, so we have booked a car for three days to enable us to reach the hiking trails on the island and enjoy the countryside and visit the volcanoes.  During our ride we noticed that there were many derelict and empty cottages along the way and in the 'city' here in Faial there is evidence of collapsed houses in the street rows.  We learnt today that back in 1998, there had been an earthquake which caused a massive amount of structural damage and many families lost their homes.  Many of the islanders emigrated but now as these people come into retirement they are starting to return to the island and houses are being repaired or new houses have been built. 

Today, we went to hire a car but as they only had large models we have reserved a small one for tomorrow.  We had a lovely long lunch overlooking the harbour and visited the local museum which had a wonderful delicate display of models made from fig tree pith.  The models were amazing, the colour of ivory, some were set up on plinths with a mechanism so that they were able to move.  Mostly they were individual boats of different periods and included the first sail boat ever - a small dinghy with a tree in it!  There was also another display, which we initially thought was lace squares laid in picture frames.  Closer inspection revealed that this fine 'lace work' was actually paper filigree and exquisitely beautiful. 

This evening, the volcano on Pico finally displayed itself after a day in the clouds, it was quite spectacular as the lower slopes were the green of the fields, but the top half was coloured red from the glow of the  setting sun hidden behind Faial. 


Photographs:  "Will it Last?"
                     "View of Pico"

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