Full article about Praia do Almoxarife
Where Essex once burned the church, Pico glows violet over 22 °C Atlantic shallows
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Where Flemings once hunted for tin
In 1465, Josse van Huerter beached his caravel on the black sand, convinced the dark cliffs of Faial concealed silver and tin. He left with nothing but a name: Almoxarife, the Moorish customs officer who once collected taxes on this shore. The Arabic syllables still cling to the parish like salt spray.
Three centuries later, on 12 September 1597, the Earl of Essex rowed ashore with fire and powder. His men torched the church, and the memory of their raid still surfaces in lullabies that grandmothers hum to restless children.
A promise stitched into February
After Pico’s 1718 eruption shook the island, villagers carried the statue of Senhor Santo Cristo in procession and vowed an annual Mass. The tradition survived republics, earthquakes, even the 1926 quake that levelled nine-tenths of the houses. Every 1 February the promise is renewed; the square fills with smoke from meat roasting over open fires.
Street map of a village
Rua da Igreja climbs past façades of volcanic basalt trimmed with white guillotine windows. Population 969, density 105 souls per km²—everyone knows the baker’s cousin and the barber’s debts.
Atlantic water at 22 °C
Six hundred metres of basaltic sand slope into a bay rarely cooler than 19 °C. Blue Flag certified, the beach is shared by swimmers and surfers who watch Pico shift from slate to amethyst as the light changes. Five kilometres inland, the Parque Florestal da Poça das Asas hides a waterfall and mirror-calm lake; an eight-kilometre trail runs silent between the Lombas da Espalamaca and dos Frades, two hours of nothing but footfall and water breath.
Lunch at the harbour
At O Canto da Doca, caldeirada arrives humming with saffron and red pepper. Order cherne liver in its rich gravy, then linguiça with yam and sweet potato. The aged cow’s-milk cheese is sliced thick as a paperback; Azorean Verdelho is poured chilled. Finish with a thimble of sugar-cane aguardente locals call “laundry detergent” for the way it scours the afternoon clean.
Arrival
The ER1-1 threads eight kilometres east from Horta; TRANSMARCA buses leave hourly, fifteen minutes each. Park free beside the beach.
Two dates for the diary
15 August: fireworks and procession for Nossa Senhora da Graça.
1 February: Mass fulfilling the 1718 vow, followed by fire-lit sopas in the square.