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A large church in Praia
After a long and irksome journey - I will spare you all of the details of the high winds followed by no wind, wind constantly from the wrong direction, and debates as to whether we even like to sail – we’ve made it to Terceira, the last of the central Islands. We arrived on a Saturday in Angra and were expecting to find the marina office closed; however, much to our surprise, we found them on strike. Well, by Canadian standards it is more of a work to rule but they are protesting some cut backs and all services beyond finding you a dock seem to have been suspended. They also seem oddly unconcerned by the lack of warm water in the paid showers – make of that what you will.
The crib notes for Terceira are as follows, it is one of the older islands in the Azores and was the third to be discovered; it has the second largest population, they love festivals, and bull fighting is very popular here. Yesterday we took a bus to Praia, which has the other marina on the island and a big bay that you can anchor in. My desire to go was based on an interest in the town but Adam was keen on seeing the bay. As soon as we arrived he was itching to sail over despite the approach of hurricane Nadine and, as previously mentioned, our recently acquired dislike for sailing. Praia is a bit like a small resort town with a tourist strip along the beach and a pedestrian road (except when cars drive down it?) which is the shopping area. We were very excited to find a Mexican restaurant but it was closed so Adam was able to sample some pizza, Praia style. He was very impressed but this might have something to do with the fact that the cheese layer was thicker than the crust. The bus ride home was a bit of an adventure. Apparently we tried to leave just as school was getting out; they packed them in like sardines, high school students in the seats, elementary students standing in the aisle, and old women yelling into cell phones at the front of the bus. It was a bit unusual but we made it back with our sanity intact, mostly, and the boat still tied up in the marina. All-in-all not a bad days work.
The crib notes for Terceira are as follows, it is one of the older islands in the Azores and was the third to be discovered; it has the second largest population, they love festivals, and bull fighting is very popular here. Yesterday we took a bus to Praia, which has the other marina on the island and a big bay that you can anchor in. My desire to go was based on an interest in the town but Adam was keen on seeing the bay. As soon as we arrived he was itching to sail over despite the approach of hurricane Nadine and, as previously mentioned, our recently acquired dislike for sailing. Praia is a bit like a small resort town with a tourist strip along the beach and a pedestrian road (except when cars drive down it?) which is the shopping area. We were very excited to find a Mexican restaurant but it was closed so Adam was able to sample some pizza, Praia style. He was very impressed but this might have something to do with the fact that the cheese layer was thicker than the crust. The bus ride home was a bit of an adventure. Apparently we tried to leave just as school was getting out; they packed them in like sardines, high school students in the seats, elementary students standing in the aisle, and old women yelling into cell phones at the front of the bus. It was a bit unusual but we made it back with our sanity intact, mostly, and the boat still tied up in the marina. All-in-all not a bad days work.