Praia on Terceria Island, Azores

‘Coming Home’

While we have met quite a few Azoreans who have lived overseas and have moved back to the island at retirement age, neither my husband nor myself were born in the Azores.  However, my husband spent several childhood years on Terceira and has always wanted to return.  For him, a military brat and a wanderer at heart, Terceira was the best place he lived and, in a sense, ‘home’.

Each of our trips to Terceira has been both a joyful rediscovery of childhood haunts and an exciting discovery of new places.

Praia in the early 1970s -- horse carts were still in use right
right along with cars.

 On our most recent trip to Terceira we wanted to use the local transportation system instead of renting a car and because Lajes Airforce Base is closest to the town of Praia and that was the town that my husband knew best as a child, our first bus trial was the short trip from Angra to Praia. Although we didn’t find a copy of the bus schedule until the next day, we did get directions to the bus stop from our hotel front desk folks. 

Overlooking the town of Praia and its harbor

Looking down one of Praia's
shopping streets

While the bus to Praia did make a bit of a slow trip, it was actually a great way to look at some of the small towns along the way—and we were on vacation so what was the hurry?  Once we hopped off in town, across from a school and next to a fire station, we were only a two-minute walk away from the main shopping street in Praia.

Although the town has changed some since my husband’s childhood exploration – the hardware store owned by an older Chinese man with a Fu Manchu moustache and long curling finger nails is gone, part of long stretch of beach turned into a zone of commercial buildings, and the old fort is hidden, enough of the old bones remain.  The center square in town where Saturday night Zorro movies played on an outdoor screen is still there.  The court building is still used but the below ground jail where my husband remembers buying ice cream for an inmate and handing the treat through the open window has been sealed up.

Down on the lower left of this building was a window
for the town jail.

 

Now when the cruise ships come to Terceira, Praia is where they stop and town can feel quite busy but on the day we were exploring no ships were in and the streets, while not empty were quiet.  Down at the water’s edge there are the usual beach town cafes and souvenir stores though many of the goods seemed to be from mainland Portugal.

As we explored town, we took a quiet look in one of the churches and wandered up and down the cobblestone streets.  At lunch time we found a table in a charming walled park. 

On a weekend evening the town square
would be filled with kids both from the
Air Force base and town.

  A small auxiliary restaurant in the park took orders while its sister restaurant across the street supplied the food.  We made a short detour into a little market alcove where one shop had a selection of locally caught fish.  The produce stop was right across the way.  They had avocados (which answered the question as to availability) and as we discussed fruits and vegetables with the owner, we found that most of the vegetables came from the family farm, some fruit came from other islands, and a few items were imported from farther away.  All good to know for the next trip when we have a place with a kitchen!

When we finished with our exploration with town, we headed back to the bus stop that was now busy with teenagers who were getting out of school.  As we once again looked like slightly clueless tourists, several kind bus passengers made sure we got to the right bus -- just a little help after a visit ‘home.