Flores Island belongs to the western group of the Azores archipelago of Portugal. Its area is about 142 km². The highest point of the island is Mount Morro Alto, which reaches 914 meters above sea level. The island has two municipalities: Lajes das Flores in the south and Santa Cruz das Flores in the north. Flores Island is an ideal destination for true nature lovers.

Attractions of the island of Flores

Seven lakes

In the central zone of the island in the craters extinct volcanoes there are the famous seven lakes. These are places of rare beauty. Considered the most picturesque Blue Lake(Lagoa Funda). However, other lakes - Lomba, Rasa, Seca, Negra, Comprida and Branca - deserve attention and admiration.

Rocha dosBordoes

Group of rocks Rocha dos Bordoes - strange and delightful natural miracle Flores Islands. These are huge blocks of basalt, similar to organ pipes, covered with mosses, lichens and other vegetation. In 2004, the government recognized the Rocha dos Bordoes rocks as a natural monument.

Ribeira Grande Waterfall

Surrounded by lush vegetation, the scenic Fajazinha area is home to nearly two dozen waterfalls. But the most amazing waterfall of them all is Ribeira Grande, whose cascade of water descends from a height of 300 meters. The best place to see the waterfall almost entirely is the observation deck at Fajazinha.

Natural pools in Santa Cruz

The swimming pools are just a few minutes walk from the airport. This the best place to see the locals sea ​​creatures.

Faja Grande

One of the most beautiful places islands, located on the west coast. On the one hand, huge cliffs rise, covered with lush green vegetation, and on the other, the blue ocean, the waves of which crash against the coastal rocks. From here you can see the islet of Monchique, once used as a starting point for maritime navigation. These are small basalt rocks about 30 meters high, isolated in the ocean.

Nature of the island of Flores

Florish is an abundance of flowers, fancy rocks, waterfalls, hot springs, valleys, lagoons, grottoes and the remains of old volcanoes. The island has seven volcanic craters that have turned into beautiful lakes.

The coastline of the island is made up of islets, capes, shallows, bays, and coastal caves.

Climate and weather of Flores Island

The climate of Flores Island is largely shaped by the Gulf Stream. Winter is mild and rainy. average temperature in winter + 14 C, in summer + 25 C. In summer there is less precipitation than in winter.

Flores Island - video

Flores and Corvo islands form the western group of islands of the Azores archipelago. Traveling around the island of Flores begins from Santa Cruz Airport, which provides inter-island connections.

Florish is rightfully considered an island of amazing beauty, combining all the delights of other places in the Azores. jagged line coastline, sometimes reaching a height of 600 meters, steep mountain spurs, green plains, picturesque lakes and hot springs create the impression that the island was skillfully painted by an artist who was able to use all the splendor of shapes and colors.

Administratively, the island is divided into 2 municipalities - Lajes and Santa Cruz. The oldest parish of the island is located in Lajes, and the most famous architectural monuments are the church "Nossa Senhora do Rosário" and the chapel "Nossa Senhora das Angústias" in Lajes, the churches "Nossa Senhora da Conceição" and "São Boaventura" in Santa Cruz.

It is difficult to describe all the beauties of Florish, but I would especially like to note the following:

• a favorite place for tourists is the area of ​​​​the “Seven Extinct Craters” - once upon a time they were volcanoes, but now they are seven delightful lakes;
• the rock "Rocha dos Bordões", which offers an amazing view of the "Fajã Grande" and the "Ribeira Grande" waterfall, falling from a 300-meter height. This rock is business card islands, a miraculous monument shaped by the forces of nature over the centuries. Jagged vertical layers of basalt rocks give a menacing and magical flavor to this place;
• the island's picturesque lakes combined with rocky cliffs rising to the "Morro Alto", the most high point islands (915m) and "Sete Pés Pico".

Due to its enormous biological, geological and hydrological riches, the large area of ​​Flores has been declared a national reserve.

Located in Atlantic Ocean between two continents, the island is the westernmost point of Europe, Portugal, and the Azores proper. Local old-timers joke that from Faja Grande you can hear the roosters crow in America.

Hotels on Flores Island - book online

Corvo, another island of the western group of the Azores archipelago, is located 10 miles north of the island of Flores. Its population is only 300 inhabitants living in the town of Vila Nova. The most notable building in the city is the church "Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Milagres", built in the 16th century. Leaving the city center, you will reach the "Morro do Pão Açucar" hill, which offers a beautiful view of Vila Nova and its surroundings. Climbing the most high mountain islands - "Monte Grosso" (770m) will give you unforgettable experience and an amazing view of "Caldeirão", a now dormant volcano whose crater reaches 300m in depth and 3.4 km in perimeter.

Along the coast of Corvo there are several windmills- an element of the landscape uncharacteristic of other islands. Constructed from black stone, they are equipped with triangular wings on a woven base, reminiscent of sails. The mechanism of these mills is designed in such a way that it rotates depending on the direction of the wind.

In general, the vastness of horizons, simple, quiet life The island's small community and its charm will forever leave a mark on your heart. Corvu is a tiny green “drop” in the greatness and power of the azure ocean.

So, behind our expedition is left beautiful island Terceira with gorgeous views, a beautiful capital and playful dolphins. Now our path lies to the west - 350 kilometers from Terceira are the islands of Flores and Corvo, and I’ll tell you about Flores today.

I have already mentioned that the Azores are different from each other because they arose at different times. So Floris (and Corvo too) is, of course, the most Icelandic of all the Azores islands. While we were there, I repeatedly felt like I was back in Iceland. Of course, Terceira is similar in places, you can also find similar places in Faial and San Miguel, but the similarities between Iceland and Flores are truly amazing. Well, now let's check if this is true :)

SATA is an Azores airline and the Bombardier Q400 is one of its main aircraft

Florish greeted us with rather gloomy weather and occasional rain, but we made a couple of stops on the way to the hotel. First we stopped near two neighboring lakes and even saw something through the cloud.

The lakes are indeed located very close and are separated by a ridge from which, in fact, you can admire them. They are called Funda and Comprida. Comprida is translated as "long"

But somehow I couldn’t figure out the translation of the word Funda (Google didn’t help), but we can assume that this name also refers to the form

Looking ahead, I note that we still managed to see these lakes later in clear weather - you can compare :)

The vegetation on Florish seems to be the same as on the other islands, but not quite. There are more mosses and all sorts of low-growing species here. This in many ways makes it similar to Iceland.

After the lakes we stopped at old mill, which has long become a local landmark

Water mill with two wheels. Each one activates such a mechanism

One wheel spins and the other rests

This car is over a century old. Corn flour in this case

The rain either subsided or started again and we went to the hotel. I’ll tell you about it in detail and in pictures a little later, but first we’ll admire the beauty of the island

So, we got to the hotel, threw our bags and agreed with the owners about dinner. There were still a few hours left, and the hotel owner suggested taking a ride to the nearest waterfall. Well, off we go.

At first, even the weather favored this idea, the blue sky showed through

The waterfall, although small, is very picturesque

Cows graze right there - a complete idyll in general

By the way, the waterfall is not the only one; there are several of them along the mountainside

Unfortunately, the clouds have thickened again

And here is the lower part of our waterfall

The scale, of course, is much more modest than Icelandic

However, there are more impressive waterfalls on the island, next time I’ll tell you about one of these :)

In general, in clear weather this is the best place to paint watercolors

By the way, it seems to me that the upper and lower parts of this waterfall look prettier separately than together

Clouds are creeping up the slope

While we could still see something, we reached the ocean shore

Here is our familiar waterfall

Along the coast (and this is the western tip of Flores) stretch the same lava formations that we saw on Terceira and will see more than once

This is where our short excursion ended, let's go back to the hotel

And on the way, we looked into a village store, where suddenly a hair mask originally from Moscow was discovered on the shelf! That's it, I never expected to find such a domestic product in the Azores :)

Well, now, as promised, I’ll tell you about the hotel. He is truly unusual. There was once a very small village on Flores called Aldea da Cuada (“aldea” means “village”). Then the residents abandoned it, until about twenty years ago there was a person who decided to breathe new life to empty houses. And inhaled.

Now they accept tourists, and each house (and there are about ten of them) has its own name

We stayed in a two-story building. I took pictures the next day, which turned out to be quite nice

The owner's wife did the interiors, and they were definitely a success

Here you will find candles and kerosene lamps (we lit them and they work) and complete rustic comfort. One problem is that the audibility in such a house is close to one hundred percent, but in an expedition race this is not particularly scary

In the former village there is also a chapel

Here are a couple more houses

There was still some time left before the planned dinner, and we scattered to our rooms or the immediate surroundings. But at seven o'clock it turned out that our team had lost Love. I mean, Lyubov went for a walk and never returned. Along this treacherous path

A phone call confirmed her fears: Lyuba was lost, and the stone fences turned out to be akin to a real labyrinth. The rescue team, consisting of our accompanying Larisa and the future son-in-law of the hotel owner, set out to search, but we stayed to wait for dinner and raise toasts to the successful completion of the operation and organized a headquarters. I will probably omit the details of this operation, because it got dark quite quickly, and it became clear that the matter was not as trivial as it seemed at the very beginning. But in the end, everyone found each other, gathered and returned to the table safe and relatively unharmed (but the possibility of calling rescuers was seriously discussed at some point). Overall, the dinner was a success, needless to say. On the other hand, there can be no expedition without adventures, the main thing is that they end well.

And this, by the way, is the owner’s daughter, Carlotta. And the dog, which I now think should have just been followed:)

By the way, they are thinking about organizing this story into an attraction for future guests. A couple in love arrives at the hotel, they take the young lady away, and let the young man look for himself.

Well, okay, let's return to the beauty of the island again. The next morning, the main part of the team set off to conquer Corva, but on the way to the port we stopped at one of the many observation platforms. Look, this is also a caldera, but not quite an ordinary one. Half of it remained on the island, and the other is now hidden under water

The village is called Fazazinha

A whole scattering of waterfalls

A very strange shape on the slope

Why not Iceland?

And the panorama is traditional

I’ll tell you about the trip to Corva, which can also be called an adventure, next time, but we returned to Flores relatively early that day, so we still had time to admire the beauty of the island.

Here is another pair of lakes. One of them is called familiarly - Funda

And the second lake is Melkoye (Rasa)

Here, of course, the sun hits the lens directly, but still. As if unknown giants had fashioned a hill from plate

And on Florish the hydrangea has already bloomed

By the way, about the hills. There is a local breed of cows in the Azores, and in addition, Dutch ones were brought in not so long ago. So the Dutch also adapted to climbing slopes, something they never did in their homeland. Visual proof that Darwin was right, in general

And here is another observation deck. Do you recognize? Yes, this is the same caldera as in the morning, only from a different point. This is the special charm of Florish - from a different angle, familiar places are sometimes difficult to recognize even

This is the westernmost edge of the island, the archipelago and Europe

To be completely precise, this title belongs to tiny island Monchique

Well, clear weather also changes the picture

There are more than a dozen waterfalls

Fantastically beautiful place

If you look closely, you can see several gray houses on the right side of the frame. This is the village-hotel. Well, the rescue operation took place on these terraces the night before

Here's the reverse view

Amazing landscape

The next morning we left Flourish. We said goodbye to a wonderful hotel and its hospitable owners

And we went to the airport. And along the way we made up for lost time on the first day. This is the same platform between two lakes

Well, one of them, which is also Funda

The final chord was another observation

Sheer delight

Do you see an island on the horizon? This is Corvo, it’s a little over 20 kilometers from Floris

Wonderful Florish in clear weather! And even if it’s cloudy, it’s not bad at all, I’ll tell you :)

That's all I wanted to tell you about the most beautiful of all the Azores islands. Bye, Florish!

We are not saying goodbye to the Western Azores at this point - a story about Corva will be coming soon :) Well, then we’ll move on to Faial. There we will get acquainted with volcanism and the history of whale fishing in the Azores.

Description and location

Flores Island is part of the western group of the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. Administratively, the island is divided into two municipalities: Lajes das Flores in the south and Santa Cruz das Flores in the north. The island was discovered in 1450 by Diogo de Teive and his son João. It was originally called St. Thomas Island. The first settlers on the island were the family of the Flemish aristocrat Willem van der Hagen between 1480 and 1490. Since 1510, the Portuguese from the northern provinces began to settle on the island.

In July 1962, France set up a missile test site on the island. The island's infrastructure improved and a hospital and airport were built.

In 1994, the French left the island, and tourists began to actively visit it.

Nature

Flores is famous for its volcanic lakes located in the craters of volcanoes. Most of the time they are covered in fog, so best time Spring is the time to visit them. The most picturesque of the lakes is Funda, with many small shallows and shores framed by unusually beautiful vegetation, thanks to which it is considered the most beautiful.

Particularly noteworthy are the Baroque mansions and churches, as well as the Ribeira Grand waterfall.

Pastures, farms and vineyards make up the island's extraordinary landscape.

Climate

Nautical. The average air temperature in January is +15°C, in July +22°C. In summer it is hot, but not stuffy. From September to April it often rains and there may be fogs.

Sea and beaches

Favorable period for swimming. From May to September, the water temperature ranges from +20°C to +23°C.”

Corals Soft corals grow underwater

The underwater world is rich, rich in various rare species of marine life. You can watch whales and dolphins.

Lakes

Lake Funda, with its shores framed by dense vegetation, is the most beautiful of the seven lakes located in the catarrhs ​​of extinct volcanoes.

Ocean

Water temperature in summer period 21-23°С, in winter 17-20°С

Flora and fauna

Aquatic life: dolphins, whales, rare species jellyfish

Vegetation

The most common plants on the island are cedar, English holly, cherry, mahogany, and laurel.

Interesting places:

Shops, souvenir shops. Shops are mostly open on weekdays, some until lunchtime on Saturday.

Nutrition

Local cuisine Numerous fish and seafood dishes. The cuisine is based on Portuguese, but there are a number of local dishes.

Entertainment- museums Ethnographic Museum

The resort is aimed at adults

The temperature, even at night in winter, never drops below +13°C, so you won’t need warm clothes.

Behavior rules

It is not customary to yawn or sip in public places.

Tips

Tips are informal, but if you are satisfied with the service, you can leave 10% of the bill.

Resort specifics: exotic.

Flores Island, one of the most famous resorts world, is very popular among tourists. A variety of recreational activities and excursion programs are one of the main components modern holiday. Like most resorts in the world, Flores Island can provide different levels holidays at a variety of prices. This resort has both luxury hotels and budget hotels.

If you are tormented by the question “Where to relax?”, “Where to spend your vacation?” Then perhaps Flourish Island will be perfect place for relax.

On Flores, the few guests are greeted by an equally small local population, “not spoiled” by tourists. The majority of people live in small idyllic villages, which belong on office calendars and souvenir postcards. It"s simply too good to be true...

Everything is somehow sad with car rental here, so we just caught a local guy who drove us around the island for 150 euros. Luckily it's small.

The westernmost and wettest island of the Azores archipelago is replete with waterfalls of all possible shapes and sizes, up to multi-hundred-meter cascades. Some waterfalls look homely and cozy; you can safely climb along their edges for your own pleasure.

Flores Island resembles a layer cake. Basalt alternates with layers of porous ash and lava crumbs. Underwater rivers suddenly fall down from the middle of the cliff, becoming "waterfalls out of nowhere."

The main attraction of the central plateau of the island is the numerous crater lakes filled colorful water. The steep walls of the crater are overgrown with fluffy bushes. The landscape is somewhat reminiscent of the landscapes of the Patagonian Tierra del Fuego.

There are many crater lakes on Flores - Reserva Florestal Natural do Morro Alto. And there's no shortage of observation platforms from which you can admire these lakes.

For all its beauty, the interior of the island is not easy to see - an impenetrable fog often covers the entire island, and the lower cloud limit is somewhere around 300-500 meters. Therefore, any sunny day should be perceived as a unique chance, a gift of fate!

The humid microclimate greatly affects the island's vegetation. The mountain slopes at an altitude of 800-900 meters are overgrown with an amazing forest - bonsai. The kingdom of meter-thick moss cushions and intricately curved junipers stretches for kilometers, but it’s not realistic to walk there.

“Moss Gardens”, freely and widely spread along numerous rivulets and streams of the central plateau, would also do honor to any guru of oriental garden art.

The steep northern coast of the island is undoubtedly beautiful, but practically inaccessible from the shore. The only option to see it is to rent a boat, but on the day of our visit this was, alas, impossible due to a storm...

Luxurious West Coast Flores is said to reach its aesthetic climax on the ancient path that leads along the cliff from Ponta da Faga to Ponta Delgada. The beginning of the trail is truly gorgeous!

It’s worth looking back at the tiny village of Fajã Grande, and your heart skips a beat from the beauty! The piercing blue of the ocean and the white church against the backdrop of steep green cliffs with waterfalls and terraced fields - what is not a heavenly landscape?!

The middle of the trail is quite difficult, but after 300 meters of elevation gain, a bonus awaits the traveler in the form of a waterfall, the westernmost in Europe! Rising from the basalt plateau, he covers the rest of the short path to the ocean in several vigorous leaps...

And here is the westernmost piece of the European Land - Monchique! Small sheer cliff looms in the ocean just opposite the waterfall - and this is the last piece of land on this side of the Atlantic. Further west - only the Bahamas, Bermuda, Newfoundland...

At the end of the ten-kilometer trail, the patient and hardy will see a view of the westernmost lighthouse in Europe, located on a cape not far from Ponta Delgada - Farol De Albarnaz. The impatient and lazy can cheat and get to the lighthouse by car, taking a detour... We cheated!

On the western shore lies the local ecotourism kingdom of Fajãzinha.

Scattered among a mosaic of green fields and laurel copses, Fajazinha and its neighbor Faga Grande compete with each other for the title of the most westerly settlement in Europe. It’s difficult for me to judge them, but the western border of Europe definitely made the most favorable impression on me!

No matter how beautiful the west of Flores is, I still give the palm to the southwest of this blessed island... It is there that man-made landscapes organically merge with the natural beauty of basalt rocks and the endless grandeur of the Ocean!

As it cools, molten basalt can become covered with such a regular network of cracks that it turns into a bunch of identical hexagonal columns of very considerable length. However, this rarely happens; a unique set of conditions is needed, and the islanders are rightfully proud of their landmark!

It was these hillside pastures that became for me personally a symbol of the Azores - a cow paradise, where the traces of 600 years of human activity fit surprisingly harmoniously into the natural landscape, creating one of the most beautiful man-made landscapes I have ever seen!