1/6/2024 0 Comments Skedaddle vine![]() ![]() The island’s João Paulo II Airport is the kind of small, neat island airport that conjures up thoughts of a child’s Lego airport, with one solitary runway, groups of smiling, suitcase-carrying passengers and tidy rows of aeroplanes.īeyond the runway is nothing but the hazy blue blur of the sun-drenched Atlantic Ocean. I can see a cluster of towering black cliffs jutting out of the ocean and, further inland, the twin crater lakes of Lagoa das Sete Cidades (Lagoon of the Seven Cities) which stare eerily back at me like a pair of dazzling blue and green eyes. This intrigue only increases as my plane tilts and circles before landing on São Miguel Island, at 760 square km the largest island in the Azores archipelago. The allure of the Azores seems to ooze even from its name, which fizzes on the tongue like a sparkling Portuguese wine. The Azores’ location on the nexus of the European, American and African tectonic plates explains its eye-catching fusion of volcanic and subtropical landscapes with a distinctly European array of crumbling castles, ornate churches and bucolic farmland.Įurope is easily overlooked in the search for pioneering cycling adventures, with ambitious riders venturing instead to Asia, Africa and South America, but the Azores is a reminder that Europe still has its own secrets ripe for discovery.
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