Remembering old trips reminds me that I’ve been home too long.
ByGD
A Pirate’s Life for Me
From what I understand of Azores history, the islands served as transAtlantic fueling stations and historically housed whalers and fisherman. But it’s easy to imagine them as a pirate’s paradise. Do the locals identify much with pirates the way folks in the American Southwest do with bandits? Or are pirates always the bad guys in Azorean stories? Whether this is sanctioned public art reflecting the local culture or punk protest of it, I think these are words to live by.
ByGD
Windows and Walls
It’s funny. If there was a wall like this in your neighborhood, you’d curse your neighbors for not tearing it down or fixing it up. But you see a wall like this on vacation and it’s so picturesque you snap a photo and take it home to show your neighbors how pretty the place you visited is. It makes me wonder how much of our energy is really misspent.
ByGD
Biscoitos Beach
This rocky beach facing the Atlantic on the north side of Terceira Island looked pretty threatening when I visited it in November. But Biscoitos is a favorite swimming spot in the summertime. Summer temperatures in Terceira aren’t much different from winter temperatures, but maybe the wind and waves are friendlier in the summer. In Portuguese, Biscoitos means cookies (or biscuits, if you’re English). That seems a friendly name for a beach, albeit a bit unusual. Perhaps in summer people lie on the rocks and bake their biscuits?