Hiking to Fajã da Caldeira Santo Cristo

Sao Jorge Azores: Day Two

When we woke up on day two in Sao Jorge we had big hopes to go hiking. We had three days to spend on the island and I had planned long hikes for two of the three days of our stay. The sky was overcast and raining when we got out of bed but we hoped that maybe it would clear by the time we finished our breakfast.

An hour later it was still raining but nonetheless, we decided to drive out to the starting point of the hike in hopes that we would get lucky that the rain would stop by the time we got there.

Unfortunately, things only got worse. The hike started high on the mountain and at the higher altitude the clouds became more dense and the low spatter drizzle at the hotel essentially became a full on downpour at the higher elevation.

We decided to just go for it anyway and stepped out of our car fully prepared to get soaked. We had light rain coats on and weren't really prepared for that kind of weather.

We walked for maybe 5 minutes before turning back to our vehicle, already soaked through our clothing and drenched to the bone. It just didn't seem worth it at that point. It was too cloudy and foggy to see any views anyway.

We changed up our plans and decided to drive to the small town of Fajãs dos Vimes to a small, famous on the island, café and coffee plantation. There we would replan our day while sipping a delicious coffee.

We spent maybe 20 minutes at the café hoping that the rain would stop and trying to decide what else we could do but we really couldn't think of anything.

Sao Jorge is such a small and remote island with only small towns, so there isn't really much to do other than hike and be outdoors. Ultimately we decided to just go for it and do our Fajã da Caldeira Santo Cristo hike in the rain.

All of the photos in this post were taken on the hike by the way. I'm mentioning that because it might be confusing with some of the pictures being intermixed with the other topics mentioned.

It wasn't raining as hard at the bottom of the mountain so we changed things up just a little.

Instead of hiking down to Santo Cristo from up on the mountain, which would have taken at least three hours one way, we would walk for just one hour from Faja dos Cubres over to Caldeira Santo Cristo.

It was essentially just the last leg of our original hike but in the opposite direction.

Something very unique about Fajã da Caldeira Santo Cristo is it's isolation. The small town located on the Fajã is the most remote location on the island. It doesn't have wifi and its not even accessible by car.

The only way to get to it is by hiking or by ATV (four wheeler), which is how the town gets its supplies. I imagine that supplies also arrive by boat but I'm just assuming.

Part way between Fajã dos cubres, where we started our walk, and Santo Cristo, is another small hamlet called Fajã do Belo.

There were probably 12-15 small cabins there but we didn't see any people around.

It was hard to tell if anyone actually lives at that location or if the cabins are vacation homes and/or rentals.

Nonetheless this location provided a great view of Fajã da Caldeira Santo Cristo.

Santo Cristo was formed by roackslides and lava flows over the centuries and according to a large billboard on the edge of the town itself, it's size increased significantly during an Earthquake in 1757.

The fajã contains a natural lagoon that is now protected by a man made tidal barrier.

Within the lagoon is the only commercial clam harvesting farm in all of the Azores Islands.

Seeing how flat the faja is from that angle was very impressive to me and gave me a sense of awe at the natural wonder of it.

After about 10 more minutes of walking we arrived at our destination.

We didn't really have a plan for when we got there other than to explore the area but we were soaking wet and cold at that point so we didn't really wander around for very long.

The town was made up of small stone cottages and winding cobblestone pathways connecting everything together.

The stones that everything was built from looked as if they were taken from the island giving the space a very natural look, almost as if carved out of the island itself.

Some of the huts were a bit run down and abandoned looking but for the most part everything looked clean and well kempt despite it's isolation.

We decided to find the local restaurant and see if we could get something to eat or drink.

There was only one restaurant in town and it didn't take long to spot it. It was the only spot with people around it.

Inside it was small and very rustic and had the feel of being built as a sanctuary for hikers and travelers. The inside was tiny but there was a large open air veranda with additional tables as well.

The ceiling was decorated in small flags and stripes of paper that I guessed were hand written notes and letters from patrons that had visited the place.

It was ctually quite busy inside condsidering its remoteness. We stood in line and order drinks and pastel de natas and were lucky to get a table.

It was open to the elements on the veranda and everything was wet from the rain so it was still very cold in there. We headed back out shortly after we finished our drinks.

It would have been nice to go check out the lagoon and man-made tidal break but being wet and chilled really squashed our sense of adventure. We headed back up the path in which we came, past Fajã do Belo and back to Fajã dos Cubres where we had parked.

Even though the weather was miserable that day I'm really glad that we persevered and just went for it. I actually really enjoyed the hike and when I look back on the trip I feel like it was one of the highlights of our vacation in the Azores.

What do you think? Have you been to Sao Jorge Island? Would you do this hike in the rain? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.