Journey to the Azores archipelago, nine bewitching Atlantic islands

Rising from the waves, Mount Pico rises majestically.

Its snowy peak plays hide and seek with the mist, evoking the iconic Fuji-Yama.

Culminating at more than 2350 meters, the highest peak in Portugal is enveloped in thick clouds that the wind sweeps away.

The ferry, which crosses the arm of the sea connecting the island of Faial to that of Pico, pitches under the force of the swell.

From the upper deck, the volcano seems close at hand.

Suddenly the sun rises.

The slopes of Mount Pico are colored in an instant with all shades of green, revealing flows of black lava, formerly called

by the Azoreans, resigned to the unpredictable anger of their mountains of fire.

To discover

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Forged by several thousand volcanoes emerging from the seabed, the archipelago is divided into three groups, Santa Maria and São Miguel to the east, Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico and Faial in the center, finally, quite distant towards the west, Flores and Corvo.

The Azores lie at the junction of the tectonic plates…

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