The Independent has added its name to the increasing list of world media waxing lyrical on the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.
In a piece entitled ‘Secrets of the Azores’, features writer Abigail Aked suggests a number of Azores’ “must-see” locations after admitting she had had “little idea of what to expect” before travelling there.
Her first choice is the Terra Nostra Botanical Garden, located within “Terra Nostra Hotel’s simple, white exterior which gives no hint of the surprise that lies within its grounds”.
“The ultimate attraction is the large circular thermal bathing pool with its mineral rich warm water and stunningly tropical surroundings,” she explains.
The charming village of Sanguinho, “abandoned in the 1970s and now gradually being restored”, has a path leading to Aked’s second favorite place, the Salto do Prego waterfall.
“The path can be tricky but the rewards become obvious when you reach the waterfall, a thundering flow of water that bursts through the trees and forms an icy-cold pool below.”
Similarly, the feature’s writer recommends a trip to the Termas da Ferraria, “two springs of volcanic thermal water that meet the Atlantic Ocean, offering a place to swim in a small naturally formed inlet”; the “pretty fishing village of Caloura” and the “excellent tapas restaurant ‘A Tasca’.
It’s just the latest in a string of praise heaped on the islands by international publications this year.
In February, the Azores was named a “bucket list must” by Canadian edition of online newspaper The Huffington Post, and in March British newspaper The Daily Mail called the archipelago a “little taste of paradise”.
