Lajes do Pico

Under the great cone of the Montanha do Pico, the highest mountain in Portugal, the town of Lajes do Pico sits on the island’s southern shore, its streets running down to a small harbour that once launched whaleboats and now launches whale-watching boats. Few places in the Azores carry their history so openly.

The whalers’ town

American whalers working the mid-Atlantic recruited Azorean crews, and from that contact grew an island industry: open boats chased sperm whales with hand-thrown harpoons well into the twentieth century, and the last whale was taken off Pico in 1987. The Whalers’ Museum in the town keeps that memory, with whaleboats, tools and scrimshaw carved from whale teeth.

From hunting to watching

The skills of the whale hunters found a second life in conservation: the lookouts who once watched for blows from the hills now direct research and whale-watching boats to the same sperm whales, dolphins and blue whales that pass the channel. The town’s marina is one of the archipelago’s main departure points for cetacean trips, while the Pico Island vineyards and the trails up the Mount Pico cone make the rest of the island an easy complement.

What to see

• The Whalers’ Museum and its boats and scrimshaw
• The harbour and the whale-watching marina
• The old whale lookouts on the hills above the coast
• The Montanha do Pico rising behind the town
• The natural swimming pools of the coast

Practical information

Lajes do Pico is the seat of a municipality on the south coast of Pico island, in the Azores’ central group, reached by ferry and by the island’s road. The sea breeze is cool even in summer: bring a windproof layer for boat trips and check the official websites before setting out.

Image credit: Lajes do Pico – Sicht auf Stadt und Hafen by Franzfoto — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.