Read some of my Poetry Here
Welcome to Manuel's Adventure Place

I love to travel and visit different historic sites. So far I have been to Portugal (my Photos of Lisbon) and the Azores (my homeland), Spain, France, Italy, Japan, China, Hong-Kong, Macau, Taiwan, (my China photos) - Switzerland (more of my Photos), -Moscow Russia (Photos of Moscow) Astrakhan, and Mexico.
(Where to next? Australia?)

AÇORES (Azores)

I come from the Island of Pico in the 
Azores
(Azores Site)

Location Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The island of PICO (so called because it is a 7,713 feet high 
 2,351 meters high, pico = peak in English)
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Click to enlarge these NASA Photos

Click the pics below to see a larger version of the image

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Arriving home, from the plane you can see how tiny the island is (not the small island on the left but the one in center with clouds over it)
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the city of Hortahorta_Espalamaca.jpg (35129 bytes)
The city of Horta on Faial behind memountain_bird_eye22.jpg (29854 bytes)
Yes it is an active volcano. 
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You can see the snow on the peak.
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Pico is the tallest Mountain in all of Portugal and one of the tallest in Europe. Over 7000' high
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A view from the water, Madalena lillage on the left side
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A view from half way up the mountain
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Village of Madalena, a closer view from the water showing the church I used to attend as a kid
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the village of Madalena on Pico where I grew up
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Me halfway up the mountain
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My brother Vital by the lagoon
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Me by the monument commemorating 500 years since the first chapel was built in 1460 by the Order of Christ
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The interior of the chapel the old knights, settlers and navigators used to pray in built in 1460

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A monument to King Dinis originator of the Order of Christ in the early 1300. When the Templar Knights were outlawed and put to death by order of the pope in Europe this king got permission to change the pious knights in his lands to the new "Order of Christ"

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The inscription says "To D. Diniz Protector of the Navigation"

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The main raw material was rock, lava rock, and the settlers built everything they could with it. This is an old oven used to boil chalk for covering the homes in white

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An old friars monastery gate. showing intricate stone work look at the shell at the top

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Windmills were the main way we got flour from our corn. the island used to be full of them

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These windmill were originally built by order of the king given to the rich

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Today they are abandoned and in disrepair

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As a youngster I used to bring sacks of corn to these mills and wait for the slow churning of the mills stones to turn it into flour

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The mill owner kept a part of the flour as a charge for milling

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Me with y cousin Manuel at his home.

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Me at my cousins porch over looking the ocean and the island of Faial in the background

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From my dad's place you get a pretty good view

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From my granddad's place you used to get a good view until this guy built the new house in front

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There are thousands of miles of stone walls all over this island these walls are carefully placed rocks on top of each other with no cement and some walls have stood for over 500 years surviving earth quakes and eruptions

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there are many old world details in the homes

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My brother Vital, my dad and me

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This is my uncle Joe getting his equipment ready to go spray the vineyards

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An old house made of stone no cement and still standing after hundreds of years

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Me on top of a hill over looking the Atlantic and the island of Faial to the left

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My cousin Luis on top of the same hill looking landwards

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An old abandoned home

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The view  from half-way up the mountain looking down to the ocean

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royal coat of arms of Portugal

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The cross of the Order of Christ in front of my church

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Arriving in Pico by boat from Faial takes 15 minutes

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What's left of an ancient volcano that exploded before Pico was born

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Madalena, Pico, a morning view with the church in silhouette

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the view from my uncles house in Faial looking back at Pico

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the city of Horta

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Leaving the city of Horta by ferry.
The island of Faial and the city of Horta

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My cousin Zeca greets me as I arrive on Horta

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the city of Horta was a first stop for trans Atlantic flights to refuel and continue on to Europe

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the city of Horta

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the city of Horta

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Cruise ship in the channel
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The island of Sao Miguel

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Me with my cousin Zeca on the island across the way. This is the view from his dad's house. see the Island of Pico in the background and the cruise ship between our heads

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Pico  from my uncles back porch on the city of Horta

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Pico seen across the channel from the city of Horta

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The island of Sao Miguel
The city Ponta Delgada

 

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The island of Sao Miguel

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The island of Sao Miguel

My trip to Moscow
Lisbon
Zurich
China
see more of My Picture Gallery  

visit Christopher Columbus
or go  BACK HOME

All artwork pictures and poetry created by Manuel Rosa. 
Copyright 1996-2001 Manuel Rosa