There's a lot of places out there that still haven't been fully discovered by tourists and I happen to have the opportunity to spend half a year in the place like this. Like the title said it was in the middle of nowhere, to be specific it was in The Azores somewhere lost in the Atlantic. Didn't know much about it before but damn how good it was.
How did I get there
Not gonna lie. I was kind of party guy during the university years. Quite lazy and dumb. These characteristics of me are more or less the same these days but my girl tries to make me a better person I think. I'm not quite sure if she succeeded at least a little bit or not. You would have to ask her.
Getting back to how I got there. I simply applied via Erasmus programme. For those who don't know it's kind of student exchange agreement universities in Europe have between each other. I could choose between Norway and The Azores. From the obvious reasons, I picked the second option. As it turned out it was a good move because it basically meant a half a year vacation for me. Also, it was much cheaper than Norway - > good for a student.
Feel the comfort
Once you are there. In my case on the biggest island called Sao Miguel and in the capital Ponta Delgada. You instantly feel like on a visit at your grandparents. Everyone is nice to you, asks you how are you, how's life if you're not hungry at any point or about anything else what comes to their minds. The thing with grandparents is you are usually with them just throughout the afternoon and then it's done. Here you have nowhere to escape. However, you can get used to it pretty quickly. Azorians don't care about your personal life goals like grandparents and they are super nice most of the time even when they have a bad day.
At first, I thought not much will be going on in there cause you can see that people don't do much. It actually isn't their fault there is not much to do for a living but as I realized you don't have to have much to be happy. And that's the thing Azorians teach you. However, even with their lifestyle, there is a lot of events going on almost every day. And most of them go along with consuming alcohol so it's quite fun.
As I said I was at the university, I didn't have to do much so I think I dived right into their way of life shortly after my arrival. I slowed down a lot and as the locals said I was enjoying the island.
What to do there
Hiking, a lot of hiking. All of the islands are small. It'll take you not even three hours to drive a car around whole Sao Miguel and it's the biggest island. So even the hiking isn't so hard but it has specifics cause some of the places are not that easily accessible. You can buy a sleeping bag and basically sleep wherever you want. Literally right next to the sign which says you can't.
There's a lot of beautiful lakes and the Azores are famous for them. Great views from the hills, nice beaches, famous tea plantations which you can visit for free and again nice people willing to help you everywhere. When you wondering around there are beautiful little towns all around the island.
Another thing to try is as much local food as you can. It's mainly a seafood off course. Nicely done, fresh all the time and for a good price like all the stuff there except the cars and estates. It also comes along with a nightlife which is especially in Ponta Delgada pretty nice. It's not like in European big cities but it's cool.
So if you are not sure where to go, this might be a little tip for you.
Here are some pictures so you can decide if its worth a visit or not.
What to be aware of
Azorians don't consider themselves as Portuguese even though the Azores are part of Portugal. They have their own government and are autonomous. Jokes go on both sides. Portuguese people make fun of Azorians and Azorians make fun of Portuguese so that's that.
Tha Azores have different taxes on everything which means that basically everything is cheaper there than on the mainland.
Everyone is really happy to stop and take you where you need to go when you hitchhiking.
And last but not least. Be prepared for the weather. It changes in a matter of seconds. Like really. There're four seasons in one hour sometimes. So it can happen to you that when you go to see something really nice like the lakes you won't see anything at all, cause sometimes the fog is so thick you can't see for more than two meters. It could happen every day.
This was just briefly about the Azores. If you want to know something more about anything just let me know in the comment section and I'll try to make another article about something specific.
Thank you for reading this.