My Great Azorean Adventure
John and I and two friends went to the Azores in the summer of 1996. I call our vacation My Great Azorean Adventure because it truly was a great adventure. John and I had a cancer scare in December of 1995. When we got home from the doctors office, after receiving the news that he did not have cancer, I walked straight to the phone and booked our trip to the Azores. It had been John's dream to visit the place where his parents were born. And I decided at that moment that he was not going to wait any longer. His dream would come true.
I called our friends and told them we were going and asked them if they would like to go with us. They said sure.. and they booked their trip. So, we were all set to go.. .but we had no idea what it would take to travel to a foreign country. And that is when the Great Azorean Adventure started.
We needed passports. We had our passport photos taken. Why another country would allow people with those faces to enter their country beats me. Do all passport photos look like convict photos? Well, ours did. Yikes.. . .we looked like Bonny and Clyde, in their graying years.
Adapters for electrical appliances were needed.. bug spray.. security places to hide money on ourselves (which wasn't needed cause there is no crime in the Azores), a passing knowledge of the language, luggage, changes of undies for every day, and the list went on... I had to sew like a fiend to get a coordinated wardrobe made. I chose blue as my main color.. and it worked.
Finally the big day arrived. We met our friends at a motel near the San Francisco Airport. Spirits were high and we couldn't wait.. We went to the airport with our friends and met our tour guides. I discovered I knew our tour guides from way back in the 6O's when our kids were little tykes. Nice suprise.
Boarded the airplane and away we went....Sitting 14 hours on an airplane was an experience to remember. The restrooms on the airplane
was another kind of experience . The food on the airplane was to be remembered, or should I say unforgetable. I kept thinking of all the jokes I had heard about airplane food...it is all true. The food is not like home...or any place else for that matter.
We finally arrived in Lajes, Terceira, Azores. We left California in the morning and arrived the next morning, a day later, in the Azores. When I stepped off the plane and looked around at the green countryside and the bright blue sky. I knew I was going to love the Azores.
Our first stop was a church on the way to Angra do Heroismo, Terceira. It was the first of many churches we were going to visit on our trip. John's hearing aide went out in that first church. Probably from the dampness in the church.
Too tired to adventure out of the hotel, I took a nap and John went exploring the cidade. When I woke up he was back and full of excitement about all he had seen. He had found the area that his father had come from and was eager to find the house his father was born in. We never did find the house...but that is another story.
We visited the islands of Terceira, Faial, Pico and Sao Miguel. In Terceira we watched the running of the bulls in the street. In Pico we visited the artisan school where young women are taught the arts and crafts of the islands. On Faial we saw the mountainous ash from the volcanic eruption in 1957-1958. The Azorean people were very kind and eager to help us in every way. Every weekend there was a festival and each island celebrated the festival a little different. The trip lasted 16 days, but the memories of that trip will linger in my memory for a life time.
In Angra we visited the archives and got John's mother and father's baptismal certificates. In Villa Nova, Terceira we visited the house that John's mother was born and lived in as a child. Pictures of our adventure can be clicked on from this page and you can view our adventure with us. I hope you enjoy our Great Azorean Adventure
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