I had the opportunity to travel to the autonomous Portuguese islands of the Açores, and stayed for a week on the Terceira island in the middle of the Atlantic. Being Portuguese on my mother’s side I had always had an interest in exploring these islands, having heard only great things from people back in Portugal that had visited them before. Suffice it to say, expectations were met and blown out of the water.
Never had I imagined such a variety of landscapes and cityscapes on one small island. You can literally drive from one side of Terceira to the other in around 20 minutes and to do a complete lap around the exterior of the island will take you a little over an hour as long as you aren’t distracted by the beautiful ocean views. Visiting late in the year at the start of November, there was always a slight concern that the weather might not be great, but the climate on the island proved to be a spectacular companion to the lush green landscape. It seems the New England saying “if you don’t like the weather now wait five minutes and it’ll change” applies just as much to the Açores. From morning to night the weather was changeable and atmospheric and was notably different from the coast to the interior. The more often clearer edges of the island quickly gave way to the misty and cloud covered interior. You could have sunshine beating down while sitting by the beach and within a ten minute drive you’d be up in the clouds in the middle of a saturated forest environment.
Most notable to me were the dramatic scenes in the interior at sunset, with the setting sun piercing the intermittent cloud and mist as it unevenly enveloped the peaks and forests. You could spend a week in just one location and not be able to capture all that it has to offer, so varied and quickly changing were the light conditions. One moment you would have a moody scene with clouds covering almost everything in front of you and then a moment later dramatic sunlight would suddenly pierce through and change that scene entirely. With another eight islands to explore after this first one, I see a lifetime of possible photos to capture in this archipelago in the Atlantic.
The towns and architecture, as well as the manmade sea defenses, also make for really great images. Having only two “cities” on the island – Angra do Heroismo and Praia da Vitoria – the urban areas are not vast, but the island is peppered with plenty of smaller villages all very unique in their own right. We managed to see many of them in a week, and it was nice to have the time on just one island to really get to experience both the towns and people, as well as the natural side of it too. And don’t forget the cows, there are cows absolutely everywhere!!
If you have never been, I highly recommend putting it on the list for both a photo trip as well as a fantastic holiday location!
