São Miguel, Azores ... Island Life
Could I live on an island...
You may recall that I loved Madeira. I wrote, “Had we visited Funchal before buying and remodeling a building in VRSA I would have tried my damnedest to convince Denise to live on this island.” Today I ponder the question, could we live in the Azores?
Scotland in the Atlantic
Throughout our stay, I was taken by the green vistas. On more than one occasion I thought, if you replaced the cows with sheep we could be in Scotland.
Which brings me to the weather. While there are 4 seasons in the Azores, sometimes on the same day, the temperature variation is fairly narrow. The average winter low is 13℃ / 57℉ and the average summer high is just 22℃ / 71℉. We chose to travel in May, before the heavy tourist season, and found layering and having a light raincoat worked perfectly.
Cost of Living
While we expected “island life” to be more expensive, this was not the case.1 It would appear your grocery bill on the island would be roughly equivalent to the mainland. While some imported items may be more expensive, the island is rich in local (cheap) fruits and vegetables. We also scoped out the real estate market and found the average house/apartment is 1790€/square meter. Much cheaper than Lisbon (3644/square meter), and Algarve (3334/square meter) and a bit more expensive than the Alentejo (1497/square meter). Like the mainland, prices are going up … there has been a 20.8% increase in the last year.
Azoreans also benefit from a reduced VAT, 18% in the Azores compared to 23% on the mainland. This tax benefit is directly reflected in the final price of many products and services, providing significant savings over time.
Natural Disasters
So you might be thinking … Nancy and Denise found paradise. Maybe… I recall reading about people being evacuated from the western side of São Jorge island in 2022. At that time, the island had experienced 20,000 small earthquakes.2 Of course, the archipelago was formed by volcanic activity where the North American, Eurasian, and African tectonic plates meet. While this occurred 36 million years ago, you need only research “natural disasters Azores” to find more recent occurrences.3
Could We Live There?
I met a British couple a few weeks ago. They have been living in central Algarve for 22 years. They have visited Lisbon a few times, but have never visited Porto. I asked them if they had visited Madeira or the Azores. Nope! I learned their trip to Vila Real de Santo António was the furthest east they had traveled in Europe since moving to Portugal. They love the peace and quiet of retirement … a simple life of daily hikes and a good meal.
While I also love our small town, I like being within 75 minutes of two airports … being able to take an extended summer road trip through Europe, take a bus to Lisbon for the weekend, and later this year a ferry to Africa to visit Morocco. So, I must admit, once again Denise was right.
Onde é o seu lugar feliz? Tchau…
Nanc
The most recent study I could find shows that Azoreans, on average, earn approximately 200€ less per month than someone living on the mainland. “The average gross monthly salary in the Azores was €1,619 in December 2023, while the average monthly salary in mainland Portugal was €1,833 (USD 1,924.28) according to the OECD.”
You may recall we lived in Rancho Mirage, a short distance from the San Andreas fault. Even small tremors will get your heart racing.
I didn’t know mainland Portugal was also subject to earthquakes. I need to do more research.
Always enjoy your reports. Not to pick nits, but I was taken by the last photo, it being a tribute to immigrants. Haven't researched it deeply, but Wiki says it was built as a tribute to the emigrants from the island, as the sculpture's actual name suggests, and is facing west toward America. Weird flex, but there you have it. Brings to mind Fernando Pessoa's first poem in Message (1934) where he dreamily personifies Europe, with Portugal as its face staring westward "where lies the future of the past".
I'm glad Denise was right, we like you here in the community and would miss you both so much if you escaped to the islands. As usual I just love your well written articles and can't wait to return to the Azores (after Summer Season myself) and take one of the bicycle tours around a few islands. Cheeers to finding a little corner of paradise.