We went hiking around town today and were impressed that this is a real city. Horta is just a big town in comparison. Angra has a downtown with lots of modern shopping, big city squares with benches and tables and restaurant kiosks for outside dining, and a most amazing municipal garden, several city blocks in size. We took a quick look at the garden, but Andi is planning on going back for a long visit. We had lunch and then hiked up the hill to the fortress on the West side of the harbor.
In the 1500's, the Spanish temporarily held the Azores instead of the Portuguese. The Spanish wanted to use this harbor to replentish the gold ships on their way home from the new world, but to do that they had to fortify the harbor against the raiding English, French, and stray pirates. The fort stretches along the coast looking down on our anchorage.
We started up the hill heading West...
And we looked down on a nice beach and the marina.
We passed through a very typical residential street.
As we walked along the walls of the fort, we looked out a cannon port and saw our boat.I glued a few photos together and made this panoramic. You may have to double-click to make it big enough. We were high above the walls of the fort here. We'll visit again when it is sunny to get even more pix.
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