Praia da Vitoria, Azores Islands, Portugal, Sept. 1, 2025 (Lusa) - The Milk and Cheese Route, which since last year has allowed tourists to visit farms on Terceira Island, in Portugal's Azores Islands, gives visibility to the sector and is increasingly in demand.

"The Azores are a beautiful place to come on holiday and those who come want to see different things. This is one of the “top” products on Terceira Island. It's undoubtedly something that will always be remembered by holidaymakers," said Anselmo Pires, one of the producers who is part of the project, in a statement to Lusa.

The son and grandson of farmers, Anselmo became one of the first organic milk producers in Portugal in 2017, and when the Angra do Heroísmo local council launched the Milk and Cheese Route he decided to take on a new challenge.

The project started in May 2024, but the producer only received his first tourists at the end of September. Since then, more than 500 people have passed through his pastures.

"I never thought I'd have so many visitors, but fortunately it's going well and I think it still has a lot to grow," he points out.

Anselmo's day - which Lusa accompanied on Saturday - begins at 7am local time when he milks the cows for the first time. In between the essential tasks of maintaining the farm, he receives tourists who are curious to discover a world different from their own.

At 10.30am, the first group arrives at the pasture, with six adults and three children. The sky is clear and in the background you can see the city of Praia da Vitória, bathed by the sea.

They find a typical picture of the Azorean landscape: a green blanket of land divided by stone walls.

The cows, mostly Holstein Friesians, are spotted black and white, as is more common in the archipelago.

Briosa, an all-black Jersey breed, comes to wait for the tourists at the entrance.

"When she sees someone strange coming, she stops doing what she's doing and comes to meet the tourists. She's already thinking about eating some more feed," explained the farmer.

He continued: "She's very tame. From two years old upwards, any child can milk that cow."

The farm currently has 32 cows, which Anselmo can distinguish and which look in his direction when he calls them by name.

As Briosa approaches the tourists, asking for a stroke, the farmer explains that milking is done twice a day, rain or shine, and that the cows, called “happy” since Cavaco Silva's presidential visit to the Azores, spend 365 days a year outdoors, eating mostly grass.

Once all the questions have been answered, it's time to move on to the part most awaited by the youngsters and by Briosa, who is already waiting on site for the feed.

Anselmo Pires shows how to milk by hand, with the dexterity of someone who has been doing it since he was a child. The adults have some difficulty replicating this, but little Maria, aged four, learns first time.

After tasting the milk, the apprentice farmers move on to the next field, where Meia Lua, a small calf of two and a half months, is eagerly awaiting a bottle of milk.

She is the second calf on the farm to be baptised by tourists, after Gisele, who was named after a participant who was celebrating her birthday on the day she was born.

Anselmo has already received tourists from South Africa, America, Canada, Brazil, France, Slovenia and India.

Many arrive with children, but there have been people who have celebrated birthdays and even stag and hen parties on his farm.

The visit ends with a table full of snacks. There are rump steak sandwiches (a typical dish on the island), fresh cheese made from the house milk, homemade desserts and sausages.

The project involves the whole family. Donzília, the producer's wife, makes the desserts and Gabriela, their 12-year-old daughter, gives explanations in English to foreign tourists.

"I don't think this life of cows is for me," confesses Gabriela, still not sure what profession she wants to have.

"I like interaction, I like to know people's feedback, what they like to do," she says.

Among the stories she collects, she recalls a group of Indians who visited the farm and, in the end, blessed themselves with the cow's tail.

"We didn't think anyone would pay to see cows. My grandmother even said: I'd pay not to go," she jokes.

At almost 80 years old, João Pires, Anselmo's father, also gets together whenever he can to reminisce about the times when he used to go up to those fields on foot or on a donkey to milk cows, when there were no machines yet. "I still like to come and see them. I was brought up on it," he explains.

In a lifetime dedicated to the land, at no time did it cross his mind that his profession would arouse the curiosity of those who visit the island: "It never entered my mind".

For Anselmo Pires, this is an opportunity for agricultural producers to have "some financial return" from tourism, which already benefited from the sector's "invisible labour".

"Farmers are the gardeners of the Azores and everyone comes because they want to see the landscape, our land management, the patchwork.This is done with the work of the farmer," he emphasised.

And even when there wasn't a product created, there was already interest from tourists: "It happened that we were doing our job, and cars with tourists passed by and asked us a few questions. Some came into the “cerrado” [field] and wanted to touch a cow."

Raquel Marinho, journalist and author of the podcast ‘O poema ensina a cair’, swapped her poetry books for a morning of contact with nature.

Hitching a ride with her daughter, she discovered the Anselmo Pires farm, where she found a product that is still genuine, where tradition combines with modernity.

"We were very well received, with a lot of friendliness and affection. It's not just a show that's already automated by the people who welcome us, it's not a very touristy thing. I'd like to think that it will continue with small groups so that we can have this attention and this openness," she told Lusa.

Although she already associated the Azores with its dairy products, the visit made her aware of the organic milk that Anselmo speaks of so proudly.

"When I get to the supermarket I'm going to look for this brand of milk and buy it," she promises.

Filipa Silva, a lawyer in Lisbon, also admitted to leaving the farm with a different image of the products: "I'd already seen this organic milk and didn't realise what it entailed. Now we can understand the expression we've heard so much about “happy cows”".

"I think that when you have this kind of experience, you have the opportunity to realise that the production of a litre of milk that reaches our homes involves an implicit effort on the part of the people who have to wake up at 6am to come here, whatever the weather conditions they have to face," said Pedro Roma.

The couple brought Maria to see the cows that characterise the Azores and at which the four-year-old stares in fascination, oblivious to the conversation.

"It's a paradise, a different rhythm, the landscape, the atmosphere. It's a calm that I think is priceless," emphasised Filipa.

Visiting the Azores for the first time, German Kay Hage, his wife and their 10-year-old twin sons wanted to take part in an activity that would allow them to come into contact with animals and the traditions of the archipelago.

The German couple also wanted to introduce their children to a profession with a family history.

"Their grandfather produced milk. He's retired now. A few years ago he produced around 80,000 litres of milk a day. He was responsible for a farm with 1,500 cows," says Kay.

Anselmo Pires believes that there are still many people who pass through Terceira without knowing that the Milk and Cheese Route exists, but he is confident that the product will be successful and that it will reach other islands.

"I think it will become more and more popular. People are looking for the genuineness of the products, the way we welcome them. It's an experience that creates memories," he said.

CYB/AYLS // AYLS

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