Lajedo and Mosteiro on Flores: the Slavonia wreck, Rocha dos Bordões and two churches

Most people drive through Lajedo and Mosteiro on the way to the west coast and stop only for a photo of the Rocha dos Bordões. The two parishes in the south-west corner of Flores are worth an hour of their own. A transatlantic liner was lost on the reef off Lajedo in 1909, Mosteiro's church was paid for with a fortune made in Macau, and the road between the two runs under the island's best-known rock.

Both villages belong to the municipality of Lajes das Flores. Lajedo is about 9 km from Lajes and 22 km from the airport at Santa Cruz. Mosteiro sits higher up, on the road north from Lajedo to Fajãzinha and the waterfall coast.

They are very small. At the 2021 census Lajedo had 75 residents, down from 107 in 2001. Mosteiro had 19, down from 43 in 2011, and none of them was a child. At the 2011 census Mosteiro was the least populated parish in Portugal. Its school has closed for lack of pupils.

Lajedo was the first village settled in the west of the island, and Mosteiro, Fajãzinha and Fajã Grande were settled from it. Farming kept the area going, and in the 1970s butter from these pastures was canned and sent to the mainland. Electricity reached Lajedo on 4 February 1978. Before that, people lit their houses with whale-oil lamps, kerosene or the fire.

Do not expect services. We found no café, shop or petrol station in either village in any source, so fill up and buy lunch in Lajes or Santa Cruz.

The parish church of Nossa Senhora dos Milagres was built in 1771 with money from a local man, José Francisco Mendonça. The parish itself came later, by royal charter of King John VI on 19 December 1823. The church was restored from 1868 to 1876, and a plaque on the facade names the priest who led the work, Father Francisco Luiz de Freitas Henriques. Inside, the wooden ceilings are painted to look like stone vaults. We found no published opening hours, so treat a look inside as luck.

The church is also the start of the PR02FLO trail, and the first stretch crosses three valleys above the sea. Off this coast, on the shallows of Rasa, the Cunard liner Slavonia ran aground in fog on 10 June 1909, a week after leaving New York. Two German liners, the Prinzess Irene and the Batavia, took the passengers off, and nobody died. The ship was written off, and its captain was reprimanded for being 10.5 nautical miles off course and going too fast for the weather.

Nothing of the wreck is visible from land. To see something of the ship, go to the Museu das Flores in Santa Cruz, which shows a stained-glass panel in teak and lead taken from the Slavonia. Our Santa Cruz guide covers the museum.

Between Lajedo and Mosteiro the road passes under the Rocha dos Bordões, a hillside of more than 200 upright basalt columns. They formed as a lava flow about 570,000 years ago cooled and cracked, and they stand about 20 metres high. Bordões are walking staffs, which is what the columns look like from below.

Stop at the Miradouro da Rocha dos Bordões on the regional road. The columns face the road and read best in side light, in the morning or late afternoon. The rock is a natural monument, and the Flores Nature Park plan that came into force in August 2026 bans public access to the formation itself. You look from the viewpoint and the road; you do not climb up to it. Our nature park rules guide explains the rest of the plan.

Mosteiro's church of the Santíssima Trindade is the reason to stop in the village. The inscription over the door reads "DA SANTÍSSIMA TRINDADE FEITA NO ANNO DE 1846". It was paid for by António de Freitas, born in neighbouring Fajãzinha, who trained for the priesthood and then went to Macau. The heritage record cited for the church says he made his money there in the opium trade and child slavery, and built the church in thanks for the safety of his wealth. Mosteiro became a parish in 1850, four years after the church was finished.

The church has a single nave, a bell tower with three bells and a domed top. The small Império do Espírito Santo in front of it dates from 1879. Impérios like it, used for the Holy Spirit festivities, stand in villages across the Azores. There is a drinking fountain in front of the church, and if you are walking, use it: the next water on the trail is in Fajãzinha.

The parish also takes in Caldeira, further along the road north, which the trail leaflet lists among the places "once inhabited". With 19 people left in the whole parish, expect more empty houses than lived-in ones.

The best way to see both villages is on foot. PR02FLO runs 13.2 km from Lajedo to Fajã Grande, takes about three and a half hours and is graded medium. From Lajedo it follows the road to a viewpoint, then a cobbled path north, with the Ilhéus do Mosteiro on your left and the Rocha dos Bordões on your right. It goes through Mosteiro and past Caldeira to the Portal viewpoint, where Fajãzinha and Fajã Grande open up under the waterfall cliff.

The trail was not on the official alerts list when we checked on 12 October 2026; the only Flores route on it was PR01FLO. Check trails.visitazores.com again the week you go. The stream crossings are slippery after rain, so skip it after a wet night. Our hiking guide has the other trails and the taxi arrangements.

On a weekday the bus can get you to the start. In 2026 UTC Line 3 left Lajes at 11:00 and reached Lajedo at 11:18; a morning bus from Fajã Grande stopped in Lajedo at 08:12 in school term and 08:36 outside it. The single from Fajã Grande to Lajedo cost €2.41 at the fares in force from 1 February 2026. There is no weekend service. Check the UTC timetable before you rely on it.

By car, the two villages and the viewpoint take about an hour with stops. Drive them on the way from Lajes to the west coast, so you reach Fajãzinha and the waterfalls in the afternoon light. The waterfalls and lakes guide builds a day around that.

The road on this side of the island runs under steep slopes. In the storm of 28 December 2025 a landslide blocked much of the road in Lajedo parish, and several others partly blocked the regional road at Fajã Grande. After heavy rain, ask your accommodation or the Lajes das Flores council whether the road is clear, and do not park under the cliff.

Is it worth stopping in Lajedo and Mosteiro?

Yes, for an hour. See the Rocha dos Bordões from the viewpoint, the 1846 church in Mosteiro and the Lajedo church at the start of PR02FLO.

Can you see the Slavonia wreck?

No. It lies on the Rasa shallows off Lajedo and nothing shows from land. A stained-glass panel from the ship is in the Museu das Flores in Santa Cruz.

Can you walk up to the Rocha dos Bordões?

No. The 2026 nature park plan bans public access to the formation. Look from the roadside viewpoint or from PR02FLO.

Is there anywhere to eat?

We found no café or shop in either village. Bring food from Lajes or Santa Cruz, and refill water at the fountain in front of Mosteiro church.

• Trails Azores: PR02FLO Lajedo - Fajã Grande
• Trails Azores: PR02FLO leaflet (PDF)
• Trails Azores: alerts
• Azores Geopark: Rocha dos Bordões
• Rede de Museus dos Açores: stained glass from the Slavonia
• Wikipedia: RMS Slavonia
• Wikipedia: Church of Santíssima Trindade (Mosteiro)
• Wikipedia: Church of Nossa Senhora dos Milagres (Lajedo)
• Wikipedia: Lajedo (Lajes das Flores)
• Aldeias Portuguesas: Mosteiro, 2021 census
• Aldeias Portuguesas: Lajedo, 2021 census
• Observador: landslides on Flores roads (28 December 2025)
• UTC: Flores bus timetable
• UTC: fares from 1 February 2026