Four days before turning 49 years old, Jackie Machado Martin passed away unexpectedly. One of her dreams was to take her daughter, my wife, Jessica, to visit Portugal and the Azore Islands, to visit the birthplace of her family.
I have inherited her dream.
As I sit and plan for the future, I cannot help but see her and I board a plane with our youngest daughter, Charley, 2, to begin the 18-hour flight. Upon landing, we will find our hotel and try to catch up on some needed rest before the exploration of the islands can begin.
Resting will be hard.
I imagine tossing and turning like a kid trying to go to sleep on Christmas Eve eagerly anticipating the appearance of Santa Claus.
The sun rises on the next morning and the three of us hop a small plane to take us to our first destination: the Carlos Machado Museum on the island of São Miguel in the city of Ponta Delgada, the largest, most populated city of the Azores. Carlos Machado is from my wife’s family line.
We will explore and investigate.
After an amazing night’s sleep, we will jump on another plane and visit the isle of Pico, specifically the city of Madalena. Here we will check into a beautiful AirBnB in a villa along the coastline and then shop the shops and enjoy some lunch.
The Azores are known for their rich dairy products. They use their cattle for milk, rather than beef. They consume pork more than any other meat. As vegans, this will be challenging. We will re-acclimate to meat and dairy before we leave on this trip in order to truly enjoy all that the Azores have to offer.
After our hearty breakfast, we will connect with Mateus Machado, a second cousin three times removed from my mother-in-law, Jackie. He and his family will be the tour guides for the rest of our visit. We will see gorgeous caldera’s that make up much of the landscape on many of the islands in the Azores, as well as learn of their rich history.
The tiny island of Faial will be next on our visit list. With only inhabiting 15,000 people, it is the smallest of the Azores. To put it in perspective, the small town of Lebanon, OR, is home to 19,000 people. Mostly consisting of volcanoes and landscapes, the city of Horta on the isle of Faial, was once a booming port city, and houses the majority, if not all, of the people living on the island. It is well-known for having the last volcanic eruption on the islands back in 1958.
Our last two days of our visit, we will explore Flores Island, named for its abundance of flowers. Home to less than 3,500 people, Flores Island was dominated by the French from 1962, when they built a missile tracking facility, until they left in 1994. During that time, a hospital, a power station and an airport were established, creating a better financial situation for its inhabitants.
Prior to that, the history of Flores is filled with shipwrecks, whalers, and pirates.
We will spend two days there to take it all in.
While our goal was to reconnect to my wife’s mother who was suddenly taken from us, it is not clear that we will find answers to the questions we seek. What we will leave with; however, is a better understanding of the history of the Azores, and this may give insight into her heritage.
Portugal
Where: Azore Islands, starting at São Miguel Island
What: To see and learn of the area which my wife’s family came from
Official website: Visit Portugal / Azores
Best way to get there: Fly from Portland (PDX) to São Miguel Island (PDL) by way of IAH (Houston, Texas) and BOS (Boston, Massachusetts)
Travel Time: 18 hours, 20 minutes
Cost of Flight: $1425 round trip, per passenger
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