The Garrano Horse at Gerês National Park, Portugal

Wild horses in Portugal at Gerês National Park.

In a territory with such ancient boundaries, such as Portugal, and where the human presence is almost everywhere, there are not so frequent wildlife sightings and when that happens, as it was in this case, it is always an exciting moment.

Garrano is a breed of Iberian horses. We often tend to refer them as being Portuguese but the fact is that the animal knows no boundaries and they can be seen both on the Portuguese side and on the Spanish side.

On the Spanish side the Gerês (Gerês National Park) is called Xures, very similar.

These are horses of small stature, wrongly often referred to as ponies, adapted to the harsh conditions of the Gerês and with working horse characteristics.

It's difficult to find the word to express how much I love seeing these free animals in the wild.

They are no longer in danger of extinction as once they were, it is a sign that there is hope in the future of coexistence between humans and wildlife.

This was a moment to remember.

David Monteiro

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How to divide the time to spend nine days visiting the Azores?

The Azores is an archipelago of the Portuguese territory constituted by nine islands and these islands are organized in three groups accordingly with their relative position and proximity: Oriental Group, Central Group and Occidental Group.

Oriental Group: Santa Maria Island and São Miguel Island;
Central Group: Pico Island, São Jorge Island, Faial Island, Graciosa Island and Terceira Island
Occidental Group: Flores Island and Corvo Island.

There are lot’s of websites where you can retrieve geographical information about the Azores so I won’t spend much time on this subject. Also to know its geographic position you can go to Google Maps.

In spite the Azores being part of Portugal, is totally different from the mainland and is far from sufficient to say that you will find there a unique environment, is like visiting a different country but with same language although with specific accent.

In between the several Azorean islands you will also find huge differences. While some islands are green, with dozen of lakes and waterfalls, others gives you dark landscapes colors with impressive mountains.

These differences in between islands are not only in the landscape but also in their  traditions and ways of being. At São Miguel island you will find a considerable size island, all green and quite exuberant, with an architecture based on black and white buildings and,on the other hand, just to give an example, Pico island is dark and dry because of the volcanic dark stone and the locals love to paint their dark stone houses doors with red colour … the result is fantastic.

With nine islands and also considering the difficulties of access to some of them once in a while due to weather conditions, is totally impossible to visit them all in one week, at least it doesn’t worth your while to do it like that.

If you’re planning a one week tour, or 9 days for that matter, you will need to make choices regarding to what islands to visit.

In this post I will focus myself in a 9 days tour but later I will write another post considering a two weeks tour and these two possibilities will be very different.

Naturally that the answer will be that this will depend on your personal preferences. However, in case you are more willing to go trekking the answer will be to go visiting islands like Flores or São Jorge but if you are more of a general tourist maybe plan to spend more time at São Miguel and Terceira.

For the sake of the explanation I will divide the people that are interested in visiting the Azores in two big groups knowing that I’m taking the chance of leaving many possibilities out of this division:

Relaxed Group - Those that are more like a general tourist. Want some cultural activities, not too deep, some walks, not to far or not taking too much time, take some pictures, have some relaxation moments but get to know the place.

Active Group - Those that are interested in knowing the place while doing some physical activities like walking, maybe trekking, or scuba diving, photography, sea kayaking, etc, although are also interested in getting to know the place.

Note that, things like local food and wine tasting, getting to know people and some relaxing are included in both groups, naturally.

I know that splitting the people in two groups like this is probably not even fair but this is a blog post not a scientific study … give me a break.

So, the question is now “How to divide the time to spend nine days visiting the Azores?”

Please bear in mind that I don’t like to travel with too much tide schedules or be all day long rush rush but I also need to feel that I’m taking the most of my time in a balanced way. What is good for me is not necessarily the best for you so you will do your own decisions.

Relaxed Group: mix tour with some cultural activities, some photo opp’s and some walks

3 days at São Miguel island + 2 days at Pico island + 1 day at São Jorge island + 3 days at Terceira island

Active Group: plenty of opportunities for walking, scuba diving, serious photography, surf, rock climbing etc - two possibilities

3 days at São Miguel island + 2 days at Pico island + 2 days at São Jorge island + 2 days at Terceira island

or

3 days at São Miguel island + 3 days at Flores island + 2 days at Pico island + 1 day at São Jorge island

This is only an idea on how to split time in between islands, you will decide what is best for you.

The Azores is in my short list of favourite destinations, I’ve been travelling there for many years and I know deeply all the islands.

There are infinite possibilities to do a wide variety of activities like walking, photographing, lay down on the beach, jumping from cliffs, cultural visits, you name it.

Is really difficult to select some islands to visit in one week, leaving out of the choice so many other wonderful places but this is real life with its limitations of time and money.

In this post I did not consider the logistic difficulties you can find when booking flights to the Azores, that will always depends of where do you come from. Although I consider how hard/easy is to move from one island to the other also taking into account how far in time are they from each other.

Later I will write a series of posts regarding each island and with some ideas of what can be done here and there adding some information to what can be already found in the internet. Also I will also explain the reasons for the above selections.

Have fun,

David Monteiro

Please check the original article at my blog in Wordpress

Hotel de Londres y de Inglaterra, San Sebastian, Spain

San Sebastian, or Donostia in Basque, is a synonymous of a glamorous lifestyle in which the “Hotel de Londres y de Inglaterra” plays a quite important role.

Like in many other coastal towns, the origin of San Sebastian is related with fishing activities and the “La Concha” bay acting as a natural safe haven for traditional local fishing boats ultimately explains the success and prosperity of the town.

However, when we look around we mostly see buildings dated after the 1800’s and one can wonder why.

The reason, although not obvious, is not rare on this part of the world. After a siege that took place in 1813, where the combined Portuguese and English troops successfully fought against the Napoleon army, the city was almost completely destroyed by the winners.

As you can imagine, San Sebastian had to be rebuilt after that sad event.

It also happen that the Queen Maria Cristina had to spend some time in the city recommended by her doctor due to her health condition.

The queen enjoyed so much the town that started to spend more time around here and that alone attracted other aristocratic members and European wealthy people in general.

Was in this context that the building that today we know as the “Hotel de Londres y de Inglaterra” was constructed in the middle of the XIX century.

Initially was a private own palace and at a certain moment became an hospital, during one of the Carlistas wars.

During the beginning of the XX century was adapted to become an hotel.

Today we can find a hotel with an elegant classic decoration although very modern in all the ways you can think about.

The Hotel had many distinct guests until now. Anyway, in its long list there is one that, in my opinion, stands out and completely fits the hotel’s environment, I’m referring to the famous and mysterious spy Mata Hari.

The hotel rooms are very elegant and classy, the restaurant has an excellent service with very nice quality/price relation in what concerns dinner and lunches. Breakfast here is a treat, the proper way to start your day.

The best of the hotel is the their staff, no doubt about it.

In these years I’ve been staying here with guests, as you can imagine, many situations occurred that I needed their help … in fact at the end is always the guest that has the need and the hotel staff always faced the problems with a tender smile and a eager to help.

If you stayed in this hotel please let me know your opinion. My opinion is clear, is an excellent hotel.

David Monteiro

Please check the original article at my blog in Wordpress