Docked at about 7am and took the Shuttle Bus into town at around 9:30 – a 15 minute journey.
The town is not very big but has a long, picturesque main street, leading down to the sea front.
There are two towns on the island, Praia and Angra de Heroismo, where there was a major battle, between the Spanish and Portuguese, in the 16th century.
We were with two friends and had decided to visit Angra first and then return to Praia – less chance of getting stranded and missing the ship.
After a bit of a walk, we found a taxi. The driver did not speak English or, surprisingly, Spanish but we managed to establish that the fare would be €25.
The weather was warm (19º) but overcast and we soon ran into quite dense fog, as we drove over the mountain (hill) in the centre of the island. We found that safety belts we not used much in this taxi. The ones in the back worked but I was sitting in the front and although mine seemed to have plugged in, it soon popped out and was abandoned.
The driver was a pleasant, middle aged man and using a bit of Spanish, English and gestures, he told us that he had been born in the island.
The journey to Angra took about 45 minutes and we were dropped off at the taxi rank in the town centre – so no problem in finding a taxi back.
The town was bigger than Praia but still with narrow streets and traditional buildings. We walked around for a couple of hours, looking at the castle, museum (unfortunately, closed), marina, botanical garden and finished with the 15th century Cathedral.
The Azores have had a few earthquakes over the centuries and the most recent, in 1980, destroyed the Cathedral but it had been rebuilt and reopened in 1985.
At about 1pm, we took a taxi back to Praia with a younger driver, who spoke a bit of English and some Spanish. He was also a native of the island with a long line of Azorian ancestors. He agreed to drive us back on the coast road which was very pretty and passed through some small villages. The journey seemed to be longer but the fare was only €25, as for the previous trip.
We had lunch at a cafe on the seafront, where they were serving “traditional” seafood.
The prawns in garlic we not too bad but the Limpets (Laps) were like chewing rubber bands. I expect they had to be tough to get as far as the mid Atlantic.
We visited some of the shops and strolled up the main street, to meet the bus.
The ship left at 5:30pm, for our, 6 day, voyage to the next stop – Port Canaveral, Florida.
