Terceira Island: Part of the Azores

Terceira as seen from Mount Brasil

I really had no idea what would actually kickstart me to go back and post on my blog. It seemed like nothing. I went back and realized it is now the beginning of June and I have not posted anything at all so far this year. But what is weird (funny) is that whenever I speak to friends about travel, I reference something I did and need to go back and check the names/dates/places on my blog, so if for nothing else, it can serve as a personal reminder of my trips. 

I had decided to do a transatlantic cruise again. Kind of a silly ideas as I typically travel solo, and this would be a lot of time on a ship and out to sea by myself. I picked the brand new ship from Holland America, the Nieuw Statendam, which I thought while planning was a good choice. How bad can brand new be? Well I found out, it really wasn't the greatest choice but I will leave that for another post.

The first port we came to after some rather glorious days at sea was the island of Terceira in the Azores. We docked at Praia di Vitoria and I went on an excursion called Terceira Island Highlights with Lunch. 

Botanical Garden, Terceira 

The island is lush and green. It tends to rain or mist every day in parts of the island, which gives it its emerald green grass color. Just beautiful. There are more bulls and cows than people on the island of Terceira.

Bulls on Terceira

They have some unusual customs that include a very odd type of bullfighting and ceremonies that they say are not religious, but surely look to be. I will write another post about that. The island is so unique, I really wish I could go back and check it out more.

Our group from shore excursion at the Adega Lusitania restaurant

But for now suffice it to say, if you have a delicate stomach, avoid the dish called Alcatra. It is meat marinated in spices for 12 hours. I ended up in bed for 2 days after with my stomach out of sorts. It is not that it was bad, just bad for me. The restaurant where we ate was really charming and very old. It was called Adega Lusitania and the sign outside says it is a typical fish and shellfish restaurant that has been there for 50 years.

Outside of the restaurant where we ate on Terceira Island