6 (of the many) Ways to Experience Pico
THROUGH THE AIR AND THROUGH THE SEA
Getting to Pico Island is by itself a unique experience. If you choose to come by plane, you land almost on top of the corrals from where the grapes that produce the wines that give a special aroma to the stay on the island sprout. If you arrive by boat, you realize what it's like to live in an archipelago where waves and sea salt makes us hard and ready to face any storm of life. Because if the boat goes, so will we. And on the many days when the sea is calm and the crabs intertwine in the Atlantic, the crossing of the Channel is a perfect symbiosis between the land, the sea, and the Man.
TO THE CONQUEST OF THE MOUNTAIN
Arriving at Pico, there are few who resist the call of the Mountain. We often feel the urge to do something just because it is popular. Disregard anyone who wants to climb the Pico Mountain (1) just because everyone goes up. Climbing the mountain is challenging yourself, you realize that the body only walks when the mind wants. It is to test your personal limits and realize that the walk is internal. You get to the top and forget the pain in your muscles because you're really getting to the top of yourself! Whether you go up during the day, in the afternoon to spend the night or at dawn to get inspired by the sunrise, it will certainly be a unique experience!
ADVENTURE OF RELAXATION
And because life is too short for us not to have the luxury of having happy moments every day, why not a post-mountain massage? When you arrive you will notice that the island has many special places where you can enjoy an adventure of relaxation with the Atlantic as your soundtrack, next to the cows or on the shore of one of the many volcanic lagoons that the island has, surrounded by endemic flora.
BETWEEN VINEYARDS AND WINES
Discovering Pico is also to be missed in the Landscape of Vine Culture. It is to discover the technique that has as much of hard as of magic for being able to transform fields of lava in hectares of vineyards and to produce singular wines. Get lost in the many stone alleys raised by our ancestors in Old Creation, feel the hardness of the rock underfoot, discover the wineries and solariums of Lajido (2), and end the day by tasting the wines of Pico. Ah! And if you have the courage, prove the many varieties of liqueurs and brandies that are made here - people say that the "picarotos" (affectionate name of the inhabitants of the island) look at a basket of fruit and begin to imagine how many different brandies they can do with this fruit!
SEAS OF WHALE
Do not forget to save a day to devote to the sea. The southern coastal shelf of the Pico is quite small, so we have great depths near the coast, which makes this part of the island quite interesting for the observation of dolphins and whales. There are exits to the sea from the Lajes do Pico (3) in the morning and in the afternoon. You can complement your trip with a dive in the Maré, where the first settlers arrived on the island of Pico.
PICO-NICS
And because special days deserve even more special day ends, pick up the picnic basket and end your adventure at Cabeço do Geraldo, just above the Lajes do Pico, and let the sunset inspire you for a new day. Pico-nics (yes, it's alright!) are the best opportunity to taste the bread and corn cake, Pico's Cheese, blackberry jam, homemade sausage and Pico wines at one of the most beautiful viewpoints on the island, with a unique view to the mountain and south coast. And, leisurely, stay there and do some stargazing at night!
You just don't go to Pico, you get to Pico, and the rest... is an adventure of emotions. Do you take the risk?
