FLORES, AZORES - WALKING THROUGH HISTORY
A GUIDE TO THE ISLAND’S PATHS AND PAST (2009)

The 2009 edition brings together the two municipalities of Flores around the same project, updating and improving the two previous historical and walking guidebooks to Lajes and Santa Cruz das Flores by the same author. The new book features hitherto unpublished historical research work, new photos and maps and it’s released in separate Portuguese and English editions, each at just under 400 pages.

This guide to “the island’s paths and past” aims to help the amateur historian find clues to various historical topics inspired by the island, sometimes revisited from a different perspective. It is also a fundamental tool for the hiker wanting to get to know Flores intimately and needing to know whether to turn left or right along one of the island’s magnificent footpaths.

There’s still a lot to be discovered on this fascinating island, which together with Corvo forms what I call the Portuguese Caribbean in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It may sound like a joke, but Flores and Corvo, apart from being exotic, sit firmly on the North American Tectonic Plate...

You can buy copies online with Paypal button's different options; the book delivers more than 700 g. of Flores and costs 25€. Prices include packing and shipping costs with Correio Azul – "Blue Mail" -, a faster-than-ordinary shipping service from the Portuguese Mail (Portugal 5€00; Europe 11€00; Rest of the World: 17€00). Please push the right button according to your region, thank you!

Flores, Azores - Walking through History - A guide... Shipping to Portugal

Flores, Azores - Walking through History - A guide... Shipping to Europe

Flores, Azores - Walking through History - A guide... Shipping to the Rest of the World

Bank Money Order: you can also buy copies of the guidebook by Bank Money Order; please contact by e-mail for confirmation before sending the order (info@argonauta-flores.com). From Portugal and the Portuguese Islands, payment can be transferred to the following current account:

Pierluigi Bragaglia
Caixa Geral de Depσsitos, Filial de Santa Cruz das Flores (Aηores)
NIB: 0035 0714 00005447400 58

From other European countries and Rest of the World:

Pierluigi Bragaglia
Caixa Geral de Depσsitos, Filial de Santa Cruz das Flores (Aηores)
IBAN: PT50 0035 0714 0000 5447 4005 8 BIC/SWIFT: CGDIPTPL


FLORES – AZORES - WALKING THROUGH HISTORY
A guide to the island’s paths and past

CONTENTS

PART A - INTRODUCTION TO THE ISLAND AND THE GUIDE................

1. FLORES: THE GENESIS OF AN ATLANTIC ENVIRONMENT.......................
1.1 The birth of a volcanic island – seismic stability in a dynamic archipelago..........
1.2 Flores and fauna.......................................................................................
1.3 Flores and Corvo: islands without a harbour at the centre of Atlantic navigation.
1.4 Man on Flores: the short-lived colony of Ribeira da Cruz.................................
1.5 The Fonsecas and the Counts of Santa Cruz: the multi-ethnic colonisation of a Portuguese Island........................................................................................
1.6 High seas, pirates and privateers “at Flores in the Azores”................................
1.7 The origin of Azorean Whaling on Flores........................................................
1.8 The economy of seaside fajγs and of hilltop pastures: Agriculture and Dairy Production...................................................................................................
1.9 Emigration and Immigration: The American Frontier, the French and Tourism....

2. PRACTICALITIES: PATHS AND GETTING AROUND......................................
2.1 An extraordinary network of paths: what it is and what it could be....................
2.2 The arrangement of the walking guide............................................................
2.3 Road transport.............................................................................................
2.4 Suggestions for following the right course: path condition, clouds and other concerns......................................................................................................
2.5 Technical details of trails................................................................................
2.6 Poetry quotations..........................................................................................

PART B - FROM SANTA CRUZ TO LAJES DAS FLORES: THE TWO TOWNS AND THE SOUTHEAST COAST……………………………………………………..

3. THE TOWN OF SANTA CRUZ DAS FLORES......................................................
3.1 Santa Cruz das Flores: the Town Hall and the Municipality..............................
3.2 Friar Diogo das Chagas, Antσnio Vicente Peixoto Pimentel, Roberto de Mesquita
and Father Josι Furtado Mota: famous sons of the town………………………………..
3.3 Monuments and Architectural Guide................................................................
3.4 Other places of interest in the town and municipality of Santa Cruz...................
3.5 A walk along the coast: the Ports Route..........................................................
1) Porto de Sγo Pedro – Porto das Poηas……………………………………………………..
3.6 What there used to be in Santa Cruz: theatre, cinema and music......................
3.7 Practical information about Santa Cruz das Flores.............................................

4 FROM THE PICO DA SΙ TO FAJΓ DO CONDE: AROUND THE SUBURBS OF SANTA CRUZ.................................................................................................
4.1 Fazenda de Santa Cruz, a place of mills and millers: some history......................
4.2 Fazenda de Santa Cruz in the 20th Century......................................................
4.3 Around the suburbs and surroundings of Santa Cruz........................................
4.4 Notable figures in Fajγ do Conde: Willem Van der Hagen, Antσnio Carneiro and W.H. Lang....................................................................................................
4.5 Itineraries…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
1) Fazenda de Santa Cruz – Pico da Sι (“Cathedral Peak”)……………………………..
2) Fazenda – Sanguinhal – Ladeiras – Monte – Porto de Sγo Pedro………………….
3) (Parish Church –) Ribeira dos Barqueiros – Fajγ do Conde (– Parish Church)..
4) Fajγ do Conde – Ribeira da Cruz Valley……………………………………………………..
4.6 Indications about other trails...........................................................................
4.7 Practical Information about the suburbs of Santa Cruz......................................

5. RIBEIRA DA CRUZ VALLEY AND THE VILLAGE OF CAVEIRA……………………

5.1 Chronicles of the first settlement....................................................................
5.2 The Legend of the luminous skull and the memories of Father Korth..................
5.3 Caveira: the difficult birth of a parish..............................................................
5.4 The Poio do Moreno Mineral Water by Major Francisco Affonso Chaves..............
5.5 Itineraries...................................................................................................
1) Mouth of Ribeira da Cruz – Caveira de Baixo (Lower Caveira): Caminho do Rabo d’Asno (Rabo d’Asno Footpath)……………………………………………………….
2) The mineral water spring of Poio do Moreno...............................................
3) Ponta da Caveira (Caveira Headland)……………………………………………………….
4) Caveira – Baνa da Ribeira da Silva (Fajγ de Pedro Vieira)……………………………
5.6 Indications about other trails..........................................................................
5.7 Practical Information about Caveira.................................................................

6. VILLAGE OF LOMBA........................................................................................

6.1 One of the first settlements on the island.........................................................
6.2 The development of Lomba.............................................................................
6.3 Itineraries......................................................................................................
1) Lomba – Rocha do Touro…………………………………………………………………………
2) Porto da Lomba (Lomba Port)………………………………………………………………….
6.4 Indications about other trails...........................................................................
6.5 Practical Information about Lomba..................................................................

7. THE TOWN OF LAJES DAS FLORES AND THE PARISH OF FAZENDA DAS LAJES..................................................................................................................

7.1 The westmost municipality of Europe...............................................................
7.2 Notable individuals of the Municipality of Lajes das Flores.................................
7.3 The parish of Fazenda das Lajes.....................................................................
7.4 Discovering the Town of Lajes: points of interest.............................................
7.5 Fajγ de Lopo Vaz............................................................................................
7.6 Itinerary........................................................................................................
1) Lajes – Fajγ de Lopo Vaz…………………………………………………………………………
7.7 Indications about other trails...........................................................................
7.8 What the town of Lajes once had....................................................................
7.9 Practical Information about Lajes and Fazenda das Lajes..................................

PART C - THE SOUTHWEST, THE CRATER LAKES AND EUROPE’S WESTMOST BORDER.............................................................................................................

8. VILLAGE OF LAJEDO (or LAGEDO).................................................................

8.1 Lajedo: Pottery and Cooperativism..................................................................
8.2 The shipwreck of the liner Slavonia: the Titanic of Flores..................................
8.3 The hamlet of Costa do Lajedo: weavers and thermal springs...........................
8.4 The “Strange Phenomenon” of Rocha Alta.......................................................
8.5 Itineraries......................................................................................................
1) Lajedo – Porto (Port)..................................................................................
2) Lajedo-Mosteiro………………………………………………………………………………………
3) Lagoas Funda and Rasa crater lakes: the descent to Caldeira Funda……………
4) Poceirγo da Αgua Quente: hot springs of mineral water………………………………
8.6 Indications about other trails..........................................................................
8.7 Practical information about Lajedo and Costa do Lajedo....................................

9. VILLAGE OF MOSTEIRO.................................................................................
9.1 The Mosteiros of the islands of Flores and Sγo Miguel: a Celtic-inspired place
name?..........................................................................................................
9.2 Antσnio de Freitas (1792-1864): From Opium Trafficking and Child Slavery to the
Foundation of the Church and Village of Mosteiro…………………………………………….
9.3 The Rocha dos Bordυes and Mosteiro today.......................................................
9.4 Caldeira: A Concise History of the village in the Crater........................................
9.5 Itineraries…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
1) Mosteiro-Caldeira………………………………………………………………………………………
2) Caldeira-Fajγzinha (Ladeira do Portal)…………………………………………………………
9.6 Indications about other trails............................................................................
9.7 Practical Information about Mosteiro..................................................................

10. FAJΓZINHA, THE OLD CAPITAL OF THE FAJΓS............................................

10.1 The Central Plateau, the crater lakes and the Morro Alto, the highest point of Flores........................................................................................................
10.2 The last working watermill on Flores...........................................
10.3 Fajγzinha, the old capital of the Parish of the Fajγs.....................................
10.4 Itineraries…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
1) Poηo da Fajγzinha……………………………………………………………………………………
2) Ribeira do Ferreiro – Curralinhos – Paus Brancos……………………………………….
3) Fajγzinha – Fajγ Grande.............................................................................
10.5 Indications about other trails...........................................................................
10.6 Practical information about Fajγzinha...............................................................

11. FAJΓ GRANDE: EUROPE’S WEST MOST VILLAGE AND THE HAMLET OF PONTA DA FAJΓ..................................................................................................

11.1 The Westernmost Village of Europe................................................................
11.2 Origins of Azorean Whaling and Shipwrecks.....................................................
11.3 Sargassum, vineyards and recent decades.......................................................
11.4 Cuada: desertion and the arrival of tourism......................................................
11.5 Ponta da Fajγ: from the settlement to the forced evacuation.............................
11.6 The paradise of illegal emigration....................................................................
11.7 The Quebrada Nova and the 1847tsunami in Fanais..........................................
11.8 Itineraries.....................................................................................................
1) Vigia da Baleia (Whale Lookout Post)..........................................................
2) Fajγ Grande - Cuada – Paus Brancos - Escada Mar – Fontinha…………………….
3) Rocha da Fajγ Grande and the Negra, Comprida, Seca and Branca Lagoons…
4) Poηo do Bacalhau (Codfish Pool)………………………………………………...............
11.9 Indications about other trails...........................................................................
11.10 Practical information about Fajγ Grande and Ponta da Fajγ...................

PART D - THE NORTH OF FLORES......................................................................

12. THE VILLAGE OF PONTA DELGADA..........................................................

12.1 The third oldest parish of Flores.....................................................................
12.2 The Legend of Saint Amaro: the shipwreck and the salvation of the statue……….
12.3 “Queimados” (“Burnt”) by Forest Fires............................................................
12.4 French radars and island road links.................................................................
12.5 The village’s west coast: from Ponta do Albarnaz to Monchique.........................
12.6 Itineraries…………………………………………………………………………........................
1) Ponta Delgada – Ponta da Fajγ: the connection to the Municipality of Lajes…..
2) Pico do Meio-Dia and S. Joγo Baptista chapel…………………………………….
3) Ponta Delgada – Ponta dos Ilhιus (and Moinho dos Ilhιus – Cabouco)……….
4) Ponta Delgada – Cabouco – Peninha - Ponta Ruiva Road………………………
12.7 Indications about other trails………………………………………………………............
12.8 Practical information about Ponta Delgada……………………………………….

13: THE VILLAGES OF CEDROS AND PONTA RUIVA...........................................

13.1 Flores’ Cedros (Juniper Trees) and the village of the same name.......................
13.2 The village of Ponta Ruiva: maritime legends and historical reminiscences.........
13.3 Alagoa valley and bay: orange trees, islets and paper caravels..........................
13.4 Place names along the coastline of Cedros by Josι Luνs de Freitas Teves...........
13.5 Itineraries....................................................................................................
1) Main Road – Aguinhas - Ponta Ruiva……………………………………………………….
2) Fajγ da Ponta Ruiva……………………………………………………………………………….
3) Ponta Ruiva – Cedros……………………………………………………………………………..
4) Fajγ dos Cedros……………………………………………………………………………………..
5) Cedros – Alagoa – Cedros..........................................................................
13.6 Indications about other trails..........................................................................
13.7 Practical information about Cedros and Ponta Ruiva ........................................

14: BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................

Flores, Azores - Walking through History - A guide... Shipping to Portugal

Flores, Azores - Walking through History - A guide... Shipping to Europe

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