Now, here’s the thing – there’s no poetry or prose to describe this place. It would be like describing a sunset to a blind person (this is what my Scottish friend Matt would say). I can just give you the facts: São Jorge island in the Azores, we got there by taxi from Velas (check my previous posts), the hike is about 15km long and you don’t necessarily need good shoes.

Whether you believe me or not, these are all unprocessed pics – no Photoshop or anything like that. It’s all Mother Nature’s talent and work.

Look at this black soil, one would think that it’s coal.

This is the crater of the Pico da Esperança, which is the highest point of the island (1,053m). I thought that it looked like an eye of a beast – perhaps a sleeping dragon!!!

I took about 500 photos but I also took many more “photos” with my eyes. That way I’m sure I’ll never lose them.

Along the path and when it wasn’t too misty we saw many small craters – they were scattered all around.

Wouldn’t you want to roll all over these green carpets? I was so astonished by their color that I felt like I had just discovered the color green.

And there were quite a few small lakes which seemed frozen in time together with the rest of the landscape.

This is just one of the paths we took.

I could go on and on telling you about this place: stunning, fantastic, astonishing, amazing… but it’s not enough. And then again, go and check the map of the world and you won’t even find this island on it! That’s what I find the most extraordinary about São Jorge and the Azores in general. They offer so much and not many people knows about them.

Now, don’t tell everyone about it! I don’t want to go back one day and find that it’s all packed with people. I wish I could just keep it all for myself – like a treasure chest.

Because that’s what the island of São Jorge is – it’s a real treasure chest!

Published by natalyadrian

I am a writer, a teacher, a translator and a digital nomad. View all posts by natalyadrian