Cloudburst

Today is entirely focused on continuing our journey. The flight is not until 2:35 PM, but we need to return the rental car by noon. This leaves us little time for sightseeing. We barely make it to Monte da Guia.

Precisely at 2:05, we board our little propeller plane.

It has only 9 rows of seats - a total of 36 seats - oh, I must correct myself, 37, because the last row has 5 seats (like the cool last bench in a bus).

Today we are flying in row 4 near the emergency exits.

I don't usually have a fear of flying, but today wind and rain are on the forecast, and in such a small plane. The last incident of Sata-Airlines was in 1999, which makes me feel a little better, and we are sitting at the emergency exit with the life jackets within reach.

It is raining when we land.

Facts:

Flores is the fourth smallest island in the Azores with an area of 143.1 km². The capital is Santa Cruz das Flores with about 1600 inhabitants. Approximately 3800 people live on the island. The official language is Portuguese, but many residents also speak English or French. The island is 17 x 12 km in length and width. The highest point is Morro Alto, which is 943 m tall. Flores is so remote that the first settlement in 1470 was not permanent; it has been continuously inhabited only since the 16th century.

It is pouring as we load the rental car, and the weather report indicates that it will continue like this until tonight at 10 PM.

This is not a pleasant welcome.

Against the water streaming down the mountain, we make our way uphill and reach our accommodation, Casa de Fazenda.

Here we have a double room with a shared bathroom for one night, and from tomorrow an apartment. Thankfully, we are allowed to check into the apartment today.

Do you happen to remember the pictures of the holiday home with its own pool in Pico?

This is also a vacation rental, but with a shared pool.

 

With leaky windows, and a moderately equipped kitchen. Everything is a bit worn out.

Like day and night.

But due to the drama with the originally booked apartment, which was canceled, this was the only option to avoid changing all our flights. And since accommodation availability on the island is severely limited (we could have alternatively rented a tent, and that during these torrential rains),

we're making the best of it. Let's see if we can manage that.

The sky is now turning the faucet on once more, just as we are about to leave for dinner.

The next drama. It seems that most restaurants are closed on Tuesdays, and after searching for 45 minutes, we returned home and ate a