Things to Do on Terceira Island in the Portuguese Azores, Angra do Heroismo, Portugal

Terceira (AKA “The Lilac Island’) is part of the Azores archipelago, which is located in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 miles west of Lisbon and 2,500 miles southeast of New York. It’s one of the larger islands with a land mass of approximately 153 square miles and a population of about 53,000. The oldest city in the Azores, Angra do Heroismo, is located on Terceira.

Terceira, in Portuguese, meaning “the third island,” was initially known as the Island of Jesus Christ. Settlement on Terceira Island began around the year 1450, but the island really came into its own during the 15th and 16th centuries, when galleons bringing wealth and goods from the Americas engaged in trade with ships from India.

But I’m no historian, I would recommend visiting the museum in Angra to understand how this rock in the middle of the North Atlantic came to be.

There’s a surprising amount of activities to do on an island this size. At first, we worried that maybe a week in Terceira would be too long when in fact, we could easily have spent more time leisurely exploring the island. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).