Aldeia da Cuada
Azores, Portugal
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| Flores Island Coastline (courtesy, visitazores.org) |
ALDEIA DA CUADA // Azores, Portugal
Starting in the early 1990s, native Azoreans Carlos Silva and his wife, Teotonia, slowly began restoring the black-basalt cottages known collectively as Aldeia da Cuada, which had fallen into disrepair in the 1950s. No cars are allowed on the island of Flores, farthest west of the nine islands of the Azores, 1,000 miles from Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean. As you stroll up the cobblestone path toward this stone hamlet of red-tile roofs and whitewashed interiors nearly a thousand feet above the sea, you'll see new life in a place where time stood still for more than five decades.
ROOM & BOARD: Each of the 15 one- and two-bedroom guesthouses—and the latest, a six-bedroom cottage—bears the name of a villager who once owned it, such as "Casa da Antonio," inscribed on a wooden cartwheel out front. Inside you'll find wrought-iron beds, patchwork quilts, a fully equipped kitchen, and an outdoor barbecue.
OUT THE BACK DOOR: Walk about two miles to Faja Grande, a seaside village, and swim in natural ocean pools or surfcast for grouper. Continue on a centuries-old trail used by the locals and offering sweeping coastal views. It will take you up a sea cliff past waterfalls to Ponta Delgada, a small port town, where the place to stop is Pescador, for tasty grilled barnacles, octopus, crab, and roasted goat.
DETAILS: Cottages from $72 per person per night; 011-351-292-590-040, www.aldeiadacuada.com
