A city included in the Unesco World Heritage .A beautiful green land.And the Spanish presence in its history.There is no lack of reasons to discover one of the least known islands of the Azores.A viewpoint, and across the harbor, a fort, a story.Until a few minutes ago, the four-kilometer wall was a sketch between the fog and the rain, but I climb, as it is not uncommon in the Azores, the wind has cleared the sky, and the castle of San Juan Bautista , before San Felipe, shines throughout its immensity.
It is probably the largest fortress built by Spain in the world , on the mountain of Brazil, on the beautiful bay of Angra do Heroismo.From that place the sun Spanish dice protected the ships that arrived from America with their bellies loaded with silver.Today, a detachment of the Portuguese Army guards the fort, although his life seems much more relaxed than that of the canons of Philip II .They even invite tourists to coffee in the middle of the afternoon, while the Atlantic strikes the rocks without compassion.
Many ships and many men have been devoured by these wild waters.Experts believe that at the bottom of the There are hundreds of ships, some with their treasures intact.As for the people, the troops of Felipe II lost their first assault on the island in 1581, in the battle of Salga , in the who participated Cervantes and Lope de Vega .« The Azorians waited for the Spanish army on top of a hill and threw on the flock of raging bulls» ;, wrote Antonio Tabucchi in« Lady of Porto Pim» ;, a faithful account of what happened.n the second battle, in 1582, the men of Don Alvaro de Bazan , marques de Santa Cruz, defeated a French mercenary fleet that supported the claims of Don Antonio, Prior de Crato, to become King of Portugal.Felipe II thus secured the throne of Portugal.It was the first great naval battle in which galleons intervened.
The castle, raised in 1592 by order of Felipe II , it had four hundred pieces of artillery in an area of three square kilometers.Four kiometers were built with walls, surrounded by the entire Monte Brasil .strength with the greatest perimeter of all those built by the Spanish empire, and in any case it is a unique example of military architecture.The largest fortress in the Americas is that of San Carlos de la Cabana , in Cuba (700 meters long and 240 meters wide).
Between the viewpoint dedicated to the liberal cares of Pedro IV, the Outeiro da Memoria, and the old castle rests Angra do Heroismo , Unesco World Heritage.Newspapers and books say that on January 1, 1980 , an earthquake destroyed much of its buildings , but after the impeccable restoration, if we did not know, we would say that its urban structure, of rectilinear streets, and its houses, darkened with porous stone of volcanic origin, They are as they were in the 16th century.There are no billboards, no tall buildings, not even a McDonalds.Only cars, yes, and not many as soon as we leave Angra.
The city, like the island, sleeps in history, with its churches, with those houses between the white of the facades and the yellow or blue of the fence of the windows and doors, with the cobblestone roads of basaltic stone.There are more Spanish trails on the island, for example in the bar that hosts the« Tertulia bullfighting third place» ;, next to the bullring.Parishioners rush a beer surrounded by posters of local fairs, or of some other like Cuellar, in Segovia .Animals for the ring-in Portugal are not killed, as is known-arrive at the center of the Atlantic by boat, from the peninsula, but in the high areas other bulls destined for the great festival of Terceira, the Vaca das Cordas , are raised on the island.The scene is repeated three hundred times between May and October, in any town.A rope surrounds the bull's neck, that chases the runners along a signposted itinerary.Some manage to dodge their onslaught, others take refuge in the sea and not a few fly through the air, before those who hold the rope manage to prevent it, between the laughter of the public.
Terceira is 29km long by 17.5 wide, and is inhabited by some 55,000 people.It is easy to travel by car and on foot, on roads and little traveled roads, or even enter the trails, trails that cross the areas higher, as in the Biscoito Natural Forest Reserve da Ferraria .The reddish earth contrasts here with the intense green of the cedar or laurel, and it does so in such a powerful way that it is difficult to look away.Lovizna again.A lake appears between the trees.And, afterwards, the Gruta do Algar do Carvao , a freak of nature.It is a volcanic cavern created during an eruption a couple of millennia ago.On the roofs there are stalactites and stalagmites formed by deposits of silicone acid , something very uncommon in the area.The descent through this chimney one hundred meters deep is simple.
In Terceira there is some beach and the water temperature is acceptable (between 16 and 22 degrees, according to the time of the year), but this is by no means a destination of sun and beach, but of history and nature. Anyone looking for a bathroom can find it in Praia da Victoria , the second city of the island, or in some of the natural pools set up in bends formed s with volcanic stone.After the rocks, the Atlantic is shaken this afternoon.
The old fishermen in the surroundings often say that the Azores are islands of the sea from April to September and agriculture and livestock in winter, when the ocean becomes ungovernable.The island of the &trquo of the Azores» , Bush, Blair and Aznar (the US military base in Terceira reached 5,000 troops during the cold war), recalls other photos that have amassed its history.This was « land of exile» for many liberals in the late eighteenth century, and the place where the Portuguese liberal revolution of the early nineteenth century began to be born.Heroismo's last name of which the capital presumes, Angra.Azores is far from anywhere, from America and Europe, islands lost in the heart of the Atlantic. Perhaps that is why so little visited by mass tourism , and so appealing to any curious traveler who is ade In these lands with Tabucchi's book in his hands, or with « Bad weather in the canal» , by Victorino Nemesio, born in Angra, the best novel about the Azores, according to the writer Enrique Vila-Matas.
Meteorological information and anticyclones have done much to place this corner on the map.The landscape we see when we say goodbye does much more to invite us to return.
Accommodations
« Quinta NS das Merces».The 16th-century estate is located in the protected area of Monte do Brasil.
« Quinta da Nasce-Agua».House surrounded by charming gardens, romantic style of the 19th century.Www.quintadanasce-agua.
« Quinta do Martelo».An ecomuseum with life and activity.Biological products, culinary tradition and accommodation in a rural environment.
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