TERCEIRA ISLAND, AZORES – 24-27 September 2026
We’ve had a few days were everything has gone according to plan, but now we’ve taken stuff ups to the next level (by us, not our tour guide), but more about those later. After a 20 minute flight, we’ve arrived on the island of Terceira (population 53,000) and are staying in the town of Angra, checking into a really lovely hotel, Torel Terra Brava.
I didn’t think we would be flying in a smaller plane, but I was wrong LOL.
DAY 1 – Angra is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its significant role as an Atlantic port city and its historical importance in maritime exploration and trade. It is said that the city was founded in 1450 or 1451 by a Fleming sailor in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator who recruited farmers, fishermen and merchants to colonise the Azores.
Angra had a strategic position in the Atlantic, making it an essential stop for ships traveling between Europe, Africa, India, and the Americas. Apparently making it a “stop over” for ships coming from let’s say India, on their way to Europe added a lot more kilometres to the trip but took two months off the journey. Plus, it was a good safe port (guarded by the fort on Mount Brasil) as the ships would have had a full load of very valuable things from further afield.
Monte Brasil – this is actually a dormant volcano, the Fort was built here and the lookouts would have been able to keep an eye on ships coming to the ports on either side of the Monte. You can just see some of the fort walls, we’ll be going to see more of the port in two days time.
In 1980 a 7.2 Richter scale earthquake destroyed much of the city. The earthquake lasted for approximately 12 seconds. When buildings were rebuilt, they had to keep the old facades to ensure that the era of the city and it’s UNESCO status was maintained.
The streets were so narrow that the bus which would accommodate our luggage and us, wouldn’t be able to drive down the street to our accommodation.
This is a side street, not as narrow.
Our Hotel. It doesn’t look like much on the outside, however looks can be deceiving. The hotel itself is roughly a year. I suspect that whoever did the renovations had to keep the facade (to maintain the UNESCO status) and did a complete fit-out inside – it is quite luxurious.
Inside the hotel, this is the bar. The rooms are really interesting, each room seems to be unique. It’s obvious from our room that it’s brand new, it has all possible mod-coms. On the second day Rhonda and I used the heated swimming pool, very luxurious.
We couldn’t get into our rooms until 3pm, so we did a city tour with a guide. This is the main street and the buildings are similar all around the old part of the city.
This is the main Cathedral of the city. Built in 1534, the building sustained serious damage in the 1980 earthquake. The majority of the building has been resurrected but many of the items inside the church were destroyed and during reconstruction, the interior was burned down twice.
Inside the Cathedral. I like the lighting that they’ve installed.
One of the side alcoves.
We next visited the Angra Theatre. There is some question about this building, we were told that it was originally the warehouse for a convent, but there is a question about this as apparently, at the site there was a warehouse but it was burned down because it was considered the site of a plague outbreak. Then, this theatre was apparently built on the site in the 1800s.
Inside the building, the colour scheme is a bit garish, but the seats were very comfortable. Apparently, there was little damage during the 1980 earthquake.
Some more of the nice facades in the main street.
Another monastery, the building is three times the size of what you see here.
The Town Hall building. There is a very large plaza at the front of it.
The mezzanine in the Town Hall, I liked the lead-light windows (I did a closer inspection to make sure they were the real thing).
Looks like where the town council meet.
Probably a special room for visiting dignitaries. I liked the chairs in this room, hence the photo LOL.
One of the only two yellow sand beaches on the island, all other beaches are either volcanic rocks or black sand.
DAY 2 – We were given advance warning that it would be raining, and the forecast was dead-on.
Lots of rain, and the winds made it even harder to see out of the windows.
We were given an overview of the cattle industry in the Azores – apparently more cattle than people LOL. They do seem to have nice green grass to eat.
The highlight for the day (at least for Rhonda and me) was the potential for a swim in one of the ocean pools (pools surrounded by lava rocks), despite knowing that it was going to rain, Rhonda and I weren’t deterred but with heavy seas, we were reluctant to even get out of the bus, BIG waves!
Lunch was at a town with the second of the yellow sand beaches. Still raining cats and dogs and no-one in sight on the beach.
We were given a tour of the former US military base, including housing for the 5,000 or so military personnel and their families. Nowadays though there are only 100 or so staff there as the US are winding down their presence. The housing will then be converted into affordable housing for the local residents.
The highlight of the day for me was the lava tube visit that followed, but I am putting that in another post – as the lava tubes deserve a post of their own, right?
DAY 3 – Today we would be visiting the fort on Monte Brasil, a coffee/banana plantation and a cheese maker.
First stop Monte Brasil. The Monte is the remnants of a tuff volcano and you can see its caldura as you drive up to the top of the Monte. It is flanked by two bays: the Bay of Angra (named for the city) to its east, and the Bay of Fanal to its west.
Between the 16th and 17th century, the construction of a system of fortified structures was created that would be the nucleus of the current Fortress.
The Fortress of São João Baptista overlooks the city, towards the bottom of the image is a small blue building, we had dinner there last night. Would have been a good view if it hadn’t been rainy and foggy.
One of the old fort buildings.
Despite Portugal being a “neutral country”, at the beginning of the Second World War, structures were constructed on the summit to support coastal defenses of the Azores. Buildings to garrison troops and munitions, including several artillery and anti-aircraft emplacements were established. This “gun” was manufactured by Vickers-Armstrong – I’m assuming in England and shipped to the Azores “complete with rollers and rack” according to a display.
The closest we got to a swim in the ocean, would have enjoyed a swim in the Atlantic!
Our next stop was the cheese factory, which wasn’t really a factory but a place to sample the cheeses which were all really good.
Our next stop was a coffee (and banana) plantation, the only coffee plantation in the whole of Europe. It was a good tour, the owner had a wind shield of Australian banksias and some Lilypilly trees which was interesting.
Cute weather forecast.
His (organic) Arabica coffee is processed on site, an interesting little business. We got to taste his coffee (which was good and I’m not even a coffee drinker), and coffee ice-cream which was even better.
The view from his plantation of Monte Brasil.
Given the few photos I’ve taken on days 2 and 3, you can probably see that I’m a bit over dry-wall walls (sort of like seeing too many castles), churches and green fields LOL. We’re heading back to Lisbon tomorrow, might go shopping instead of touring around.
On the bright side, this 1l bottle cost only €2.
So, what’s challenges have we faced?
- Rhonda and I bought a bottle of wine each. Note to self, they use corks in all of Europe and they don’t provide a cork screw in the rooms – and a pair of tweezers just doesn’t cut it when trying to get a cork out!
- Christine tripped over 2 weeks ago (before we started our trip) and the skin tear on her shin is still looking “angry”, and she’s suffering from a swollen foot, so she’s not able to get around as easily as the rest of us, so she’s missed out on half a day – hopefully not much more.
- Rhonda made the mistake of trying to wash her pajamas and accidentally threw them down on the shower floor – not realising that she put the pajamas on the floor drain – she flooded the bathroom and it might have flooded part of the carpet too.
- Christine decided that she’d wash her pajamas in the sink – all was well until she drained it, then put more water in it, now the sink plug wont come out – handyman Ray tried unsuccessfully to fix it – we’ll have to call the concierge for the hotel to fix it – not easy bushing your teeth using the toilet to spit out the toothpaste.
- I didn’t mention in the previous post, but we did have the incident of the “stolen” Apple watch as Christine sent her carry-on luggage + watch through the security x-ray – we suffered 5 minutes of “how could that happen” until we found the watch attached to a magnet on the outside of her carry-on luggage.
- Rhonda only drinks Mocha Coffee – apparently, it’s not a “thing” in the Azores – she’s tried to explain a mocha each time she’s wanted a coffee – to no avail, this morning she thought she’d have given enough instructions to the waiter, but to no avail.
On the bright side, we haven’t fallen on any of the cobble stones (both on the road and footpath) – they are a real trip hazzard.
So, Lisbon tomorrow, it’s been a good trip I’d definitely recommend Collettes!