The record number of tourists from Poland visited the Azores

According to the data of the Regional Azores government, last year tourists ordered a previously unlisted number of accommodation – over 4.3 million, i.e. by 12.4 percent. more than a year ago. Over 70 percent of them were reserved by Portuguese from the continent.

– I flew on the Azores in March because I wanted to be in my country, but not in the Algarve or in Madeira, besieged today by tourists, but in a calm place, away from the hustle and tourists, closer to nature – admitted Maria Lurdes, a bank from Lisbon.

She added that during a weekly vacation she chose Sao Miguel and Terceira, i.e. the main islands of the archipelago inhabited by around 240,000. people.

The increasing presence of tourists looking for peace is confirmed by representatives of the Regional Tourist Agency in Ponta Delgada, the capital of the archipelago. They estimate that in the last year, thanks to tourists, the local economy collected a record amount of over 200 million euros.

According to Nina Camary from the Tourist Agency at Ponti Delgada, the tourist traffic increasingly increasingly intensifying in Azores.

– We have seen a constantly increasing number of (Poles) in Azores since the coronavirus pandemic. Last year there were over seven thousand, which meant a record, “Camara said. She added that this phenomenon also persists this year.

One of the biggest attractions for vacationers going to the Azores is observation of dolphins and whales. Some also decide on divers popular among vacationers.

Almost 75 percent Tourists heading for Azores most often choose the main island of the archipelago – Sao Miguel. Furnas, the area of ​​hot sources lying on the crater of the expired volcano, the Caldeira Velha landscape park, famous for thermal pools, as well as the lakes of the volcanic origin of Lagoa do Fogo are particularly popular there.

More demanding tourists are guided during their stay on the island of Sao Miguel to the only tea plantations in Europe or visit greenhouses in which pineapples are grown massively.

Poles may be surprised in Azores with the relationship between the Azora archipelago and Poland.

– I was most surprised by the fact that the main airport of Azores in Ponta Delgada is named after the Pope John Paul II – said Adrian from Warsaw, who was flying to this Atlantic archipelago with a change in Lisbon.

He added that after the first stay on the Portuguese archipelago, as part of a trip with one of the Polish travel agencies, he organized another escapade to Azory himself, with a few days stop in Portugal continental.

– Few people know that in 1991 during a pilgrimage after Portugal, John Paul II visited this archipelago as the only pope in history. He was probably one of the most famous personalities who came to these peripherals of Europe – he noted.

On the islands of Sao Miguel and Terceira there are places commemorating the visit of John Paul II in Azors. One of the streets of the Ribeira Grande commune was named after the Pope.

The Polish trail is also a monument on the island of Gracios, reminding about the plane crash, in which in 1929 – during a flight over the Atlantic – Major Ludwik Idzikowski was killed. The pioneering attempt to overcome the route from Europe to America ended in a tragedy due to the machine's failure.

As Lena Dias from Ponta Delgada said, Poles, although not very numerous, have been appearing on the island of Sao Miguel for many decades. Usually, she added, as sailors or soldiers.

– My late grandmother told me about her first meeting with a group of Polish officers. As a little girl, she met them at her father's home, a former diplomat, during the visit they made in the summer of 1939. They warned against the outbreak of war – recalls Dias's account of his grandmother.

The Portuguese working as a teacher in one of the primary schools added that nowadays the sight of Poles on the Azora streets is no longer surprising.

– We do not lack tourists from Poland today. They arrive almost every day – summed up the dias of renting accommodation for vacationers, including citizens of our country.