27 October 2017 – Horta, Faial, Azores

We are now 4 hours ahead of y’all in time zone changes, and have just finished our tour of the island of Faial in the Archipelago of the Azores.  We started at the port of Horta, which is the main city of the island. 

Then traveling upward we stopped at the statue of Our Lady of Conceicao where we took the pictures of the ship at port and from the other side the landscape and houses at Praia de Almoxarife (Sheriff’s Beach).

 

We continued upward to the Caldeira of Faial in the center of the island. All the roads at narrow and lined with hydrangeas – beautiful—and mostly blue due to the iron-rich volcanic rock.

Coming down via an unpaved road of crushed volcanic rock that was hairpin after hairpin after hairpin.  Our bus driver did an excellent job of navigating them.  We made a rest stop at a bar and small grocery shop and bought some locally-made cheese and bread reminiscent of our days in Brasil.

We then arrived at the last volcanic eruption on the island, Capelinhos, and saw what was left of the village, now completely buried.  The lighthouse was once buried up to the 3^rd floor, and the ash field added approximately a square mile to the island’s length.

After leaving there we went to the town of Varadoura and saw the lava rock formation into the ocean.

Then home to Horta and our ship just in time as the rain started. Since we didn’t stop for lunch, we had our bread and cheese and apples in our room which really hit the spot.  We leave port within an hour and we wanted to get this off while we had a good internet connection.

Tomorrow the island of San Miguel and the port of Ponta Delgada, which are the biggest and most populated island and city respectively of the Azores.