A 7-day trip through the aromas and flavors of the Azores divided between the islands of São Miguel and Pico where we will cook in the boilers of Furnas, learn about tea production, taste award-winning wines and regional dishes, watch whales and enjoy Azorean hospitality.
The journey through the aromas and flavors of the Azores begins with the reception at the airport on the island of São Miguel in the city of Ponta Delgada (PDL). Our team will be waiting for your arrival to transfer you to the hotel. Check-in at the apartments and rest. Group meeting at the end of the afternoon in the hotel lobby for a welcome drink with our hostess Marisa.
We will walk through the village to the Anfiteatro restaurant. The gastronome specialist in Azorean culture, Antônio Cavaco, will receive us for a class on the cultural and gastronomic background of the Azores islands, during a 6-course dinner paired with local wines and liquors.
We will learn more about products with designation of origin that are protected as food heritage. A beautiful introduction to the customs and traditions that we will get to know better during these days of Food Safaris.
Breakfast and check-out. We will travel to a traditional tea farm to visit the plantation, learn about tea harvesting, leaf separation. At the end of the visit, we will taste the property’s teas.
Then we will head to the city of Furnas where we will stay for the next 4 days. On the way to the city, we will stop for lunch to taste barnacles and other seafood and also at some viewpoints to enjoy the beautiful landscape.
Check-in at the hotel, a charming accommodation in the middle of nature. We’ll meet in the early evening to walk to Dona Tereza’s restaurant. With her, we’ll follow the preparation of the ingredients for the Cozido that will spend the night in cooking in the hole of the volcano. Our night ends with an invitation from our hostess to have a drink and pizza in the center of town.
After a leisurely breakfast, we’ll visit a traditional cheese factory and learn about São Miguel’s dairy products. After a tasting guided by the cheesemaker Paulinha, we go to Parque da Lagoa to unearth our stew. The tasting of this traditional Azorean dish will be done under the shade of the trees, in a picnic washed down with good regional wines.
We will return to the hotel to rest after lunch. At the end of the afternoon, we invite everyone to go out for coffee on Rua das Caldeiras, just like the locals do.
We will spend the day in the Northeast of the Island, one of the most dreamlike places due to the low human occupation and large area of preserved nature. We will be able to observe the landscape and several viewpoints.
There we will be able to taste another ingredient with a geographical indication from the Azores which is Galo Capão.
The restaurant’s chef is also a rural producer and shares with us the details of this delicacy.
We’ll return to the hotel in the middle of the afternoon to enjoy the delicious leisure structure it offers.
Departure to the airport to board the flight back to Lisbon. End of FoodSafaris Azores.
Time to say goodbye to Furnas, pack your bags and fly to Pico Island.
This is the second largest in the archipelago and the one where the highest mountain in Portugal is located, Pico, which gave it its name, with an altitude of 2,351 m.
The extensive lava fields that mark the island’s landscape form the cultural landscape of the Vineyard of Pico Island, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. It is because of the vineyards and the exuberant landscape that we chose to spend the next two days here.
Upon arrival at Pico airport, we will head to our hotel to rest, enjoy the pool or walk along the seafront and discover the natural pools.
A wonderful schedule was organized for that day. We will start with a whale watching boat trip. In the basaltic landscapes of the island of Pico, sea giantes find tranquility and an abundance of food.
At the end of the morning we will be entering the Wine Azores wine fields. The vines in this region have to be planted in places where they are sheltered and, for this reason, the corrals were created – stone walls where the vines are planted in order to be protected from the wind and salty sea air. This very peculiar terroir gives rise, above all, to fortified wines that offer a unique freshness and acidity.
We will have a special lunch at the winery to close this special day and the Food safaris expedition that we have lived together.
