M40間諜米格魯的秘密日誌

Café Pastéis de Belém is often credited as the place where the famous pastel de nata (egg tart) was first commercially produced outside of its original home inside the Jeronimos Monastery a few steps away. The creamy pastry came to be known as pasteis de Belem, after the name of the suburb and that of the famous bakery. This quintessential Portugese dessert attained global prominence in the 1990s in Asia after its inclusion in the standard dessert menu of popular western fast-food chain such as Kentucky Fried Chicken. Nowadays, many in Asia have come to equate the egg tart with certain bakeries in Macau, a former Portugese colony which had contributed a great deal to the popularity of Belem egg tarts in Asia.
The Casa Pasteis de Belem is now a major tourist attraction in its own right. Customers, both local and from elsewhere in Portugal and abroad, sometimes have to queue for hours in order to get their hands on freshly baked egg tarts, still steamingly hot, directly from the oven.

Cascais is a popular seaside resort just an hour away from Lisbon by train. The town is most famous for its grand casino, sandy beaches and elegant yacht marinas. On weekends, the tree-lined streets of this quaint little town are full of expensive sportcars and sedans, while tourists from all over Europe stroll around the town centre and enjoy their day out in the sun.
The presence of long swathes of soft white sandy beaches, crystal clear water and sunny blue sky all help to consolidate the position of Cascais as the leading resort of Portugal. Just take a quick walk around the town centre and it is immediately evident to anyone that this is a place for the well-heeded and the famous. Stylish shops and boutiques adorn the sides of the seaside boulevards, while posh hotels, cafes and restaurants all cluster around the centre of the old town doing brisk business.

My first visit to Lisbon was more than a decade ago, when this city of more than a million inhabitants was still a largely under-developed town on the outermost fringe of Europe, consisting of numerous suburban slums and an extremely rundown city centre. At that time I thought Lisbon is easily the most dilapildated and impoverished European city I have ever seen. In fact, Lisbon in the 1980s and 90s was probably closer in terms of its standards of living to the sprawling multi-million metropoles in the developing countries in Latin America and Asia than its counterparts in western Europe. In those time, no matter where you went in the city centre, there were so many deserted houses and apartments with broken windows, sealed doors, graffiti all over place, dirty streets littered with rubbish and empty plastic bottles, that you thought you were somewhere in the middle of some impoverished third-world countries.
 

But things have changed for the better since then. Lisbon now is a bustling city wth a well-organized metro system, efficient public transport, lively city centre, with many former slums cleaned up and rundown buildings in downtown areas sanitized and renovated. The whole city now looks and smells much better, and this spirit of rejuvenating growth could be felt all over the place. Lisbon is no longer a decaying city slowly crumbling down in the sunset, but a lively metropole with lots of tradition, history and heritage sufficient to attract a growing crowd of admirers from all over the world.

Praia de Almoxarife is just a short drive away from Horta. There are also 2-3 buses per day from Horta to Almoxarife (except for the weekends). It is a well-equipped beach, with showers, toilets, life guards, a small library on the beach and several restaurants nearby. To our surprise, the beach of Almoxarife is a certified blue-flag beach!! (There are several blue-flag beaches on the island of Faial, by the way)
The view of the pretty little town of Almoxarife and its blue-flagged black sand beach from the top of the drive down the hill towards the ocean.

There are not too many guidebooks about the Azores. Of the few that are still in print, some of them offer somewhat misleading information concerning the availability of beaches suitable for families with children. One of them stated that the Azores are not suitable for swimming due to the lack of sandy beaches.
Which, in my opinion, is not quite a correct statement. If your concept of sandy beaches comes directly from postcard impressions of long, white soft sandy beaches of the Caribbeans, then beaches of the Azores are not for you. There are plenty of secluded coves and sandy beaches here in the Azores, but they are not of soft, white sand, but coarse, black volcanic sand beaches.
Yet these black volcanic sand beaches have a unique beauty of their own:

Horta is named after Joss van Hurtere, a Flemish nobleman who founded a small settlement on Faial and which later came to be known after the transliteration of his name. The town is actually much prettier than I thought, and its surroundings and public infrastructure certainly are kept in a much better state than many of the towns on Mainland Portugal.The town is set amidst picturesque settings: with green hills in the background, blue oceans and the impressive sight of the volcano of Pico rising high up above the horizon into the clouds.

The promenade of Horta's marina.

To be honest, Madalena on the island of Pico gives one the feeling that it is just a point of transit; most people simply consider it a place of arrival/departure. As a result, the whole town has a somewhat 'irrelevant' feel to it. Apart from the  harbour (to catch a ferry to other Azorean islands), a few cafes and shops in the town's main streets, there is almost nothing which calls for serious attention.
The old harbour of Madalena. Basically there is nothing much to do in this town, except for getting off and on the ferries. There are a few cafes where you can spend your time looking at the sea while waiting for the ferries, but that's it actually. It is a bit boring a place to visit, even for a short day-trip. You certainly need a car if you want to explore the beauty of the Pico island.

It is very easy to cross over from Faial to Pico by ferry. Daily services by Transmacor (http://www.transmacro.pt ) depart from Horta to the habrour town of Madalena (on the island of Pico). As of August 2009, there are 6 sailings per day by conventional ferry. One way ticket costs 3.40 euro; children under the age of four can travel for free.
In addition, on certain days there are also a high speed catamaran that sails between Horta - Madalena (Pico Island) - Sao Roque (Pico Island) - Velas (Sao Jorge island). One way ticket between Horta and Madalena with the catamaran is 4.10 euro.

I love cafes. It is not just a lifestyle: it is a ritual. Everywhere  I go, I will try out the cafes in town and find one that I prefer most. In Portugal, you will easily find plenty of decent bars and cafes that serve excellent gelao (coffee with milk) at reasonable prices, but this one, Cafe Internacional right across the road from Horta,'s Marina stands outfrom most other cafes in Horta because of its art deco/Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) interiors.

The main counter of Cafe Internacional. The location of this cafe is ideal, right across the road from Horta's Marina and a stone throw away from the Tourist Information Office, the Pousada de Santa Cruz hotel as well as Cafe Sport Peter.

Every island of the Azores has a name: Faial is known as the 'Blue Island' thanks to the overwhelming presence of hydrangea  all over the island. Due to the relative absence of efficient public transport systems, it is advisable that you rent a car if you want to visit the various parts of the island in depth. It takes less than 3 hours to drive around the entire island.
Rental car companies congregate around two streets in the centre of Horta: the Rua Vasco da Gama, and Rua Conselheiro Medeiros. It is advisable to enquire around for prices and availability, as prices and the class of cars available at short notice differ hugely between different car rental companies.