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Azores Easter Cruise March 26th - April 11th 2015 - Horta, Faial Page |
Horta, Faial
Wednesday 1st April 2015
Panorama coming into Horta Harbour
We berthed at Horta on Faial (the cable station island) earlier in mid-morning than we expected, about 11:00, so were in the terminal for cheese & wine tasting at 11:30 but we went back to the ship, which we had noticed before, has a strange bulge welded, that is, not riveted, under the stern, so it must have been added later. A minimal lunch, as I had stacked up at breakfast & away on the tour.
Two of the many churches in Horta |
Church with a Leaning Tower |
Church on a hill top |
While I had taken a number of shots of the town coming in, when we got to a viewpoint above the town, the camera crashed & none of my old computer boffin tricks would get it to behave. This was a minor disaster, minor because when we got up to the caldera, we had what has become Azores Caldera Syndrome. It was full of cloud. We went on the volcano which erupted in 1957. This was frustrating photographically but interesting geologically, as there are a lot of strata in the ash. When we got back, I asked the ship’s photographer if he knew anything about a jammed TZ-60 but no, so we took the shuttle into Horta & the driver told me where photo shop was. We set off but Avis turned back & later, walked back to the ship. Meanwhile, the photo man asked if the camera had worked up to the volcano. No but it seems that: Volcano Warning! if there is wind, the very fine volcanic dust may muck up the zooms on most digital cameras. |
I later warned Tony the Cruise Director about this. Meanwhile, I bought a Fuji camera & walked back to the ship.
We ate in the Lotus Grill & went to the show, which was Rat Pack by the Show Team, so we were guaranteed decent music.
Contact: Ken Baldry at 17 Gerrard Road, Islington, London N1 8AY +44(0)20 7359 6294 or e-mail him
URL: http://www.art-science.com/Tourism/Cruises/AZ2015/CR3.html Last revised 12/4/2015 ©2015 Ken Baldry. All rights reserved.