Terceira - The 3rd Largest Island in the Azores (August 7 - 23, 2012)

Europe » Portugal » Azores » Terceira
August 28th 2012

Published: August 28th 2012

We had an enjoyable sail, however rainy in the beginning, from Sao Jorge to Terceira in the company of two other boats (Takari and Caitlin of Argyll) that we have gotten to know while in the Azores. This gave us yet another opportunity to have some photo sessions while sailing. The island of Terceira (which means third in Portuguese) was the third Azorean island to be discovered and is the thi... Read Full Entry

Photos are below

Photos: 82, Displayed: 21

Comment Follow (17) Message

Bob & Janice Waller

s v Tsamaya

Like so many others we love to travel and we love to sail so cruising makes a lot of sense. Janice has retired from Cornell as a business manager and Bob has retired from South Seneca school district as the high school principal. It's time to sell the house, get rid of whatever doesn't fit on our 40 foot Caliber LRC named Tsamaya (this means Travel Well in Setswana) and set off to see the world. Our reasons for publishing this blog is twofold, first to keep in touch with our friends and family and secondly to share our experiences. If you would like to receive notification when we have added ... full info

Blog Options

Top Photos Blog Map

Print Version

[blog=737826]

[blogger=133700]

How About Breakfast?

We enjoy stopping to have a café com lait (coffee with milk) with a pastry occasionally.

Town Hall

The town hall was built in the 19th century and is said to boost the largest most magnificent great halls in all of Portugal.

One of the Hikes

One of the official trails on the island starts close by the marina therefore took an afternoon to hike around Monte Brasil.

View from the hike

While on the hike we were provided with a great view looking over the harbor where we could see the marina and the fort that was built on the other side of the harbor to help protect it.

Anti- Aircraft Emplacements

These are anti-aircraft gun emplacements that had been put in on Monte Brasil during the WWII.

Signal Hill

The lookout post located at the top was built between 1567 and 1588 to watch for approaching ships. With improvements it became known as semaphore post as it balloons and flags were used from here to warn others of the details about approaching ships.

Volcanic Origins

You can clearly see that the formation of Monte Brasil was volcanic when you see the caldeira on the other side. They have used it as a bull ring and a military training location at various times.

Tall Straight Cedars

On the walk up Monte Brasil you could see very straight cedars – these are protected in the park, but you can see why these were forested for use in making masts.

Tunnel to Where?

A mystery – we saw this tunnel which looks quite long in the side of the hill – where does it go??? Our guess is that it is connected somewhere to the fort, but we don’t know for sure.

Guard House

At least the guard was given some shade to stand in this guard house.

500 Year Celebration

This monument on Monte Brasil commemorates the 500 years since the discovery of the Azores in 1432.

View of the City

The town of Angra do Heroismo is spread out in all directions but as you can see has a large amount of green space in the middle remaining. On the back hill you can see the obvious signs of housing developments.

A Great Messsage in Any Language

Near the monument marking the 500th year discovery of the Azores we found this post – the message is written in English, Portuguese and Asian characters – not sure which country. Not sure of the history of it being placed here, but found it interesting and a good message.

Church inside the Fort Walls

Inside the fort walls the Sao Joao Baptista Church was built shortly after the Restoration.

The Entrance Gate

You must walk through the gateway at the beginning of your hike to the top of Monte Brasil. We found you could drive to the top as well, but enjoyed the hike instead as we saw more of the area traveling by foot.

Walls are Formidable

The walls of the fortress are quite formidable and in very good condition as you can see here.

Beach is Well Used

The beach located right at the base of the hill from town is well used every day. It is handy to town and the marina as well.

Green Space

We are happy to see that places are set aside for green space throughout the towns.

More Wind Energy

Fortunately we have seen wind generators on all of the islands in the Azores. We also are happy to see they all recycle as well.

A Better View

We got a better view of the “named” rocks when on a bus ride to Praia da Vitoria which is a town on the east end of the island.

Irrigation Used

Much of this island is used for agricultural purposes and we noticed that irrigation was widely used in some areas.

Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0622s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb

Do not copy images or text from this page without requesting and receiving permission. All rights are reserved by the author and photographer.

Contact Bob & Janice Waller (s v Tsamaya) - a lack of a response does not mean that you have permission to use material from this page.

Terceira - The 3rd Largest Island in the Azores (August 7 - 23, 2012)

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved