Vacation souvenirs
08/20/2025
We are all very familiar with the love of cars. And so we know that pure reason is hardly enough when you come across it in places where you wouldn't necessarily expect it. One such place is the Azores island of Faial, an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 1400 kilometers west of Portugal, 1900 kilometers east of Newfoundland. It belongs to a group of nine islands that stretch over a distance of more than 600 kilometers along a fracture fold between the American, European and African continental plates. I spent most of my vacation on the island of Faial. This island in the western Azores measures only around 21 kilometers in length and 14 kilometers in width.
Bends on the Azores island of Faial - very enjoyable as there are plenty of them despite the small terrain and they are well surfaced
There is a well-developed road network with a main route around the island, a cross-country route and some connecting roads as well as a winding road up to the crater rim of the dominant, extinct volcano Cabeço Gordo. Around 14,000 inhabitants share the approximately 174 square kilometers of land. The main town of Horta - the headquarters of the weather observation station to which we owe the Azores High is particularly noteworthy - is home to around half of them.
Random sighting: restored Citroën 2CV corrugated iron bonnet at Praia do Almoxarife on Faial
This makes everything relatively manageable. When it comes to cars, and classic cars in particular, I can report roughly the following: In the two weeks or so of my stay, I came across various classic cars. An MGB Roadster from the early 1970s, a Triumph Spitfire 1500, a Jeep CJ2, a Toyota Landcruiser FJ40, a Citroën 2CV AZ from the 1950s and the Peugeot 504 that was occasionally seen on the harbor pier in Horta - a US model with thick bumpers and side markers and some signs of rust.
A little rust gnaws at the faithful Peugeot 504, the salty sea air is no blessing for the old lady in US trim
They were joined by newer cars such as a Porsche 992 Turbo S and - really, where would you want to go with that? - a Ferrari F8. I'm sure that after an extended weekend you'll have experienced all the roads on the island of Faial. Meanwhile, the option of going to the neighboring island of Pico is limited: The ferry there, only 30 minutes in between, only has space for 12 cars. Nevertheless, there seem to be exactly the same enthusiasts among the islanders as we know here on the mainland. The only thing nobody needs to worry about is getting lost on the way out. By the way, there is a kind of highway on the largest island of São Miguel. However, the best place to drive straight ahead in the Azores is on the island of Pico, where the transversal in the middle of the island is a dead straight nine kilometers long!
There is not much in the center of the Azores island of Pico - but a dead straight road of 9 kilometers in length!
