Our flight from Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel Island for Terceira Island was an early morning departure. We boarded our older model prop plane on time and the old girl took off with a rumble and wheeze for the 30 min flight to our next destination. Terceira is the third largest island in the Azores group, is home to about 60,000 people, numerous cows and the UNESCO heritage site Angra do Heroismo. It is also stunningly beautiful with stone walls separating pastures and fields as well as small vineyards taking advantage of the micro-climates that the rock walls create. We will see more of this vineyard style when we get to Pico. The landscape shows evidence of the creation of the island through volcanic activity: cinder cones and Calderas are common, as are the brilliant green fields characteristic of the Azores.
We headed immediately for the centre of the island after landing and a 9 km trail; taking us through several ecosystems and approximately 800 meters in altitude to the Rocho do Chamber cauldera. Our trek began along paths of red volcanic rock, past goat herds, ferns, wild ginger and laurel trees. Quite quickly the trail turned into volcanic rocks threading through fern grottos. We then reached a spectacular Cedar forest and the climb began, involving pulling ourselves up steep hillsides with ropes, traversing multiple sets of just about vertical stairs and avoiding the mud. The views were amazing!
Following our hike, we made our way down to Biscoitos village, home to another set of lava pools open for swimmers. There were a few hardy souls there but it is not warm today and the seas are rough. Some interesting characters in the area, one young man taking to himself and wandering around pulling his hair, another gentleman thought he was a plane – must be something in the air…..
Our final stop was Angra do Heroismo – our home base for the next two nights. The city is designated as a UNESCO heritage site and was pretty well levelled in 1980 by a major earthquake. The US has an Air Force base on the island and was instrumental in rebuilding the city to its former glory within a three year period. The city looked lovely in the evening light and we look forward to exploring it tomorrow.
