Horta, Azores
First things first… REGATTA UPDATE…
Of the 15 boats entered, only 5 remained afloat. The builders of the successful vessels all received a certificate with the declaration: ‘Best Floater in the Pool’.
Now, that’s given a few folks a chuckle…
Today, we arrived at the first of our two Azores port stops, Horta.
We’d specifically asked not to be given any escorting duties today, so that we would have the whole day to ourselves… and glorious it was too!
We walked along the promenade looking at the boats moored in the marina and enjoying the sight of one of the neighbouring islands. I can’t remember the name of the island, but I can tell you that it is volcanic, and looks like a volcano. The sun was shining, but it was noticeably cool compared to what we’ve been used to.
One of my primary objectives today was to obtain some masking tape. This shouldn’t be a problem, I reasoned, since I knew of a good hardware store in the town. Unfortunately, when we got to where it should be, it wasn’t there. Neither was the ‘Mega Hong Kong’ Chinese Emporium round the back of it that basically sells anything and everything.
When I asked in a neighbouring electrical shop where the hardware store had gone, and where I might possibly obtain some masking tape, he told me that they had relocated to a small industrial estate up near the hospital. Fortunately, this wasn’t too far away, so I set off in search of tape while Tracey continued walking around the bay and towards a hill that looked like it would be nice to climb. None of this was a problem, time-wise, because we had a long day, with all-aboard time 6:30pm.
Needless to say, I found the hardware store without too many problems. It was a bit of a trek up the hill to the hospital, but I didn’t mind, figuring the walk would do me good. Once stocked up with ten rolls of tape and a couple of craft knives (because one of the others has mysteriously gone missing), I put my head down and legged it back down the hill to the bay, in order to catch up with Tracey, who by now was halfway up the other (nice-looking) hill.
Once I’d caught up with her, we continued on up the hill to a promontory with a small chapel on top (which wasn’t open) and great views in three directions, particularly back across the town of Horta, towards where the Magellan was berthed in the distance.
We spent a few minutes enjoying the views and taking photographs before heading back down the hill. When we arrived back at the small bay that always reminds us vaguely of Cornwall, we found a small bar where we had a couple of drinks and some Doritos. We had planned on buying something a little more substantial to eat, but we didn’t have enough euros on us and the bar wouldn’t take card payments.
A little later, after our well-earned drinks, we stopped off at an ATM machine before visiting an ice cream parlour, where we were able to purchase two massive, and rather delicious, cones of ice cream, which we sat and ate on a small park located alongside the marina.
Interestingly enough, we also came across another giant Chinese Emporium place, that sold pretty much anything you could name, which was quite near to the ship, and which, if I’d known it was there, could have saved me the walk up the the other place. C’est la vie; I’ve noted where it is for future reference…
