Tourist Attractions in Angra do Heroismo

Angra do Heroísmo, the fortified chief town of its district and of the island of Terceira and the see of the Bishop of the Azores, lies in an open bay 2km/ 1.25mi wide on the south coast of the island. On the west side of the bay is a peninsula, with Monte Brazil (210m/689ft). The attractive little town, which has a good harbor, was founded in 1534 and owes the second part of its name to its heroic resistance to the Spanish conquerors in the late 16th C., falling into Spanish hands only in 1583. Until 1832, when it was displaced by Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel, Angra do Heroísmo was the capital of the Azores, and it still ranks as the cultural heart of the archipelago.

Townscape

The town layout was originally planned in the first half of the 16th C. and it still boasts some imposing 17th and 18th C. Baroque buildings, due in no small measure to the substantial restoration carried out after UNESCO gave it International Heritage status.