Fajã do Belo

The Fajã do Belo is a permanent debris field, known as a fajã, built from the collapsing cliffs on the northern coast of the civil parish of Ribeira Seca, in the municipality of Calheta, island of São Jorge, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.

First known in the 17th century, this small agglomeration of houses was named for one of its first settlers: Diogo Nunes Belo.

[1] Since its early settlement, the inhabitants of the fajã were occupied in subsistence agriculture and raising of cattle.

[1] At the time this included cultivation of vineyards, lupin bean and sweet potato, while seaweed/algae was used as fertilizer.

Access to this fajã is conditioned by weather, and vehicles are not permitted on the dirt trails, resulting in mostly pedonal or quad traffic.

Following the 1980 Azores earthquake many of the buildings/homes were abandoned