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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Praia da Vitoria 12 to 14 August 2011

12 August Duart and his sons Duart and Francisco kindly took us to see the unique natural feature of Algar do Carvao. The Algar do Carvão is an ancient vertical lava tube or volcanic vent located in the center of the island of Terceira - the first time we have seen such a feature






Afterwards we visited the beautiful northern coast.
13 August we took the nr 3 bus to the northern town of Biscoitos. As with most towns on the island, Biscoitos has its own Império do Espírito Santo - these are tiny colourful chapels of similar architectural design honouring the Holy Ghost.
with a special Espirito Santo crown at the highest point
Biscoitos is known for its wine and has a wine museum
where the traditional wine making equipment can be seen

Afterwards, we strolled through the vineyards with small plots of vines enclosed in Basalt stone walls

Below the vineyards we went through a well kept camping park - some of the tents were provided with sun shades
Close to the sea, there was a display of painted fibreglass trees - part of the Azores-wide schools competition we had first seen in Ponta Delgada ( http://drrf.sraf.azores.gov.pt/Paginas/home.aspx )
The coast close to Biscoitos is made of lava flows and is very rugged. In order to facilitate swimming, a series of rock pools have been created
with steps into the water and bridges to the more outlying rocks
This makes a very pleasant safe place to enjoy a swim




14 August we had a dinner party on Dutch Link with Keith and Colette (S/V Alice Gull), Kari (S/V Zahlia), Tony (S/V Tanimara) and Mark (S/V Rain Again)


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