Friday morning at 2:00 AM we were finally "wheels up" and on our way to Terceira. That was 28 hours after we were originally scheduled to depart Boston. No worries, we're here for three weeks and we enjoyed Boston. One thing the extra time did was let us do a little research on Azores Airlines.
First of all if you want to fly here from the US you have two choices, Azores Airways or chartering your own plane. Azores Airlines has been around since 1991 (under different names) and has a fleet consisting of a whopping 6 planes. I'm reasonably sure we flew over here on a plane that they probably bought used back in 1991 when they started flying. The armrests on the seats still had the ashtrays (they had been sealed shut) and there was a sign above the door that said "Orville and Wilbur were here".
When the flight attendant did the safety briefing I noticed there was a little variation from the normal. Instead of saying "in the unlikely event of an emergency" she said "in the event of an emergency" as if it was a distinct possibility that there could be one. Beth's research uncovered the most entertaining fact. Out of 84 airlines Azores Airlines was previously ranked #1 in the world................for late departures!
Four hours after taking off the pilot somehow managed to find the small island of Terceira, which is one of the nine Azores Islands out here in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I'm glad he did because it's absolutely incredible. Lush green rolling mountains, dipping down to a rocky shoreline, before giving way to the chilly blue waters of the Atlantic. We are staying in the city of Angro Do Heroismo which with a population of just over 35,000 is the largest city on the twelve mile wide and 16 mile long island.
Today we did some roaming around the city. We explored much of the marina area as well as the "old city" which has a really nice public garden, cobblestone streets and UNESCO world heritage designation (there will be more on the history of the islands and cities in future blogs). The most striking feature of the city might just be how quiet and laid back it is. Most of the noise comes from the winds blowing through the palm trees, birds chirping or the waves crashing on the rocks. We're feeling confident that we're going to like our three weeks here!
First of all if you want to fly here from the US you have two choices, Azores Airways or chartering your own plane. Azores Airlines has been around since 1991 (under different names) and has a fleet consisting of a whopping 6 planes. I'm reasonably sure we flew over here on a plane that they probably bought used back in 1991 when they started flying. The armrests on the seats still had the ashtrays (they had been sealed shut) and there was a sign above the door that said "Orville and Wilbur were here".
When the flight attendant did the safety briefing I noticed there was a little variation from the normal. Instead of saying "in the unlikely event of an emergency" she said "in the event of an emergency" as if it was a distinct possibility that there could be one. Beth's research uncovered the most entertaining fact. Out of 84 airlines Azores Airlines was previously ranked #1 in the world................for late departures!
Four hours after taking off the pilot somehow managed to find the small island of Terceira, which is one of the nine Azores Islands out here in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I'm glad he did because it's absolutely incredible. Lush green rolling mountains, dipping down to a rocky shoreline, before giving way to the chilly blue waters of the Atlantic. We are staying in the city of Angro Do Heroismo which with a population of just over 35,000 is the largest city on the twelve mile wide and 16 mile long island.
Today we did some roaming around the city. We explored much of the marina area as well as the "old city" which has a really nice public garden, cobblestone streets and UNESCO world heritage designation (there will be more on the history of the islands and cities in future blogs). The most striking feature of the city might just be how quiet and laid back it is. Most of the noise comes from the winds blowing through the palm trees, birds chirping or the waves crashing on the rocks. We're feeling confident that we're going to like our three weeks here!
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| Marina Area of Angra Do Herooismo |
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| Terceira Mar Hotel, where we are staying |
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| Old Town and an Old Guy |
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| Old Town and a Not So Old Gal! |
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| Marina Area |
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| From the seawall looking across the marina towards town |
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| Downtown on a busy Saturday afternoon |
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| Public Garden in the middle of Old Town |
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| From the public garden looking towards Monte Brasil |
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| Public Garden |
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| Pedestrian Street with several cafes-We had a great lunch here for less than $10 total! |
