Terceira, Azores

Terceira has been an excellent stop. We spent 4 days in the town of Angra do Heroismo on Terceira which is 60 miles from Horta, Failal. It is amazing how different all the islands can be. Flores is a very rural island with little development. Faial is booming in comparison with the yachting city of Horta providing virtually everything you could want when you haven't had anything in a while - i.e. one main street! Then there is Angra do Heroismo, which was one of the first cities established in the Azores in the 1500's. Instead of only two major streets there are 8 all set up in a grid - like a real city. This town has all of the charm of a small European city, with cobblestone streets, lots of small shops and very few tourists. There is also a definite sense of wealth here - I even saw a Ferrari!

We arrived just in time to see the start of the Terceira annual festival. The festival lasts for a week and is situated all through the town. Street venders set up special stands to sell their local Azorean specialties. One of the more crowded stands sold freshly steamed sea snails. Jane and the boys stared at the locals as they would sit down to a big plate full of the marble sized mollusks slurping them up one by one. I was hoping Jane would order a plate so we could all sample them......oh well.

The entire city helps prepare for the festival. At 9:00 pm they roll out red carpet to line the streets for the parade. It was truly amazing to see all that carpet and everyone decorating their small balconies with blankets. The Portuguese like to stay up late. The parade did not start until 11:30 at night. The band was supposed to start at 12:00 and the party did not end until 3:00 am. We all stayed up as long as we could, but were in bed by 11:00.

Tomorrow we are off to Ponto Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel.

Photos Here