On Thursday around
3:00 pm the 5th of Nov. Nancy asked if I wanted to go to the Azores
on Sat. morning for a week. I pondered it for a few minutes and said “why not”.
We started throwing stuff in our travel bags as we needed to leave in 13 hours
to make the 13+ hr drive to Baltimore where we would stay at the Ramada Inn
near BWI airport for a 5:00am show time Sat. morning. We arrived at the hotel
exhausted around 9:00pm, checked in, asked for a wakeup call at 3:00am and fell
into bed.
We made it to the
airport next morning for the 0500 roll call for the MAC flight (now AMC for Air
Mobility Command) to the Azores. We were two of 15 passengers aboard the 757
which was setup to carry cargo in the front 2/3 and 42 passengers in the aft
section. Off the ground by 0900 with a 41/2 hour flight ahead of us we tried to
get some more sleep. It was a great flight with a great flight crew which
served us meals, snacks and drinks. We touched down in Lajes on the Island of Terceira
at 5:30 pm Azores time and were through customs by 6:00.
Fatima, our Air B&B
host met us at the airport and gave us a whirl wind tour on the way back to
Angra and informed us that the apartment had developed a leak in the kitchen so
she was going to put us up in her son’s vacant rental house while the apartment was being
repaired. She also apologized for the fact that she had to fly off to Lisbon
the next morning for medical reasons and was lending us her car while she was
away... horrors!
We pretty much
drove all over the island of Terceira during our stay. I have always loved the
Azores, having been stationed there for short periods during my Navy tour and
sailing over with Chris Morejohn aboard his 38ft sharpie in 2004. Nancy has now
fallen in love with them as well and we are entertaining the idea of sailing
over this spring and spending the summer. Most of the foods on the islands are
locally produced and the prices are very reasonable. A beer costs less than a
dollar and a glass of local wine can be had for a euro ($1.06 at the time). Our meals typically
cost less than 15 dollars including wine, desert and coffee.
Click on the pictures below to enlarge
A park up on the mountain
Difficult to see but our apartment is the 4th from the left not counting the partial one
Entering the park in Angra the following pictures were taken in the park
Coffee break in park cafe
Last picture of park
Down town Angra
Marina in Angra, Chris and I stayed here in 2004
Stairway down to marina
From the other side
View from the house where we stayed for the first 5 days
Most of the walls overlooking the water have these neat little seats
Coffee break at the baths
Musicians playing in the afternoons down town Praia de Vitoria
Interior shots of the house we stayed in for the first 5 days
Praia de Vitoria, this is where we will sail into, base is to the right
Walls are the result of clearing the land for farming
This little pony was in no hurry to get out of our way
Trying to figure out the parking fees
This was on one whole side of a building
The beach at Angra
The fishing village of Sao Mateus
Park walkway, Sao Mateus
Swimming area
Bird of Paradise
