Horta
Horta is known for its marina, where visiting yacht crews leave paintings on the walls and walkways, facing Mount Pico across the channel. Read on for a port that linked Europe and the Americas, the beach at Porto Pim below Monte da Guia and the windmills on the Espalamaca ridge.
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Horta is a city on the south-east coast of Faial island in the Azores, home to the Legislative Assembly of the Azores and laid out like an amphitheatre facing Mount Pico across the water. Its story began in 1467, when the Flemish nobleman Josse van Huerter landed on the shore of the bay and built a small chapel; the town's name may come from his own, or from the Portuguese word horta, meaning orchard. King Manuel I made it a town in 1498, and the Fort of Santa Cruz was begun in 1567. English raids followed in 1589 and 1597, and in 1833 Horta was raised to city status in reward for Faial's support of the Liberal side.
Thanks to its central position in the Atlantic, Horta became a stopover on routes between Europe and the Americas: a port for Azorean orange exports and wine from Pico, a call for American whalers and later a coaling station for steamships. From 1893 transatlantic telegraph cables made it a link in intercontinental communications until 1969. In May 1919 a US Navy floatplane landed in the bay on the first transatlantic flight, and from 1939 flying boats on routes between North America and Europe stopped here.
Yachts began using the sheltered harbour by 1960, and the marina opened in 1986. Its walls and walkways are covered with paintings left by visiting crews, recording their boats and the years they passed through, an open-air museum that keeps renewing itself. South of the city lies the bay and beach of Porto Pim, sheltered by Monte da Guia, a protected landscape, while north of the centre stand the Faial windmills on the Lomba da Espalamaca.
The craft beer scene in Horta is still waiting to be discovered. With Pico just across the channel, travellers can look around the wider Azores to see what is being poured nearby.
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Frequently asked questions
The paintings are left by visiting yacht crews, who record their boats and the years they passed through on the marina walls and walkways. The marina opened in 1986, after yachts had been using the sheltered harbour since around 1960, and it works as an open-air museum that keeps renewing itself.
Yes, the bay and beach of Porto Pim lie just south of the city, sheltered by Monte da Guia, which is a protected landscape. It is an easy addition to a walk around Horta, which is laid out like an amphitheatre facing Mount Pico across the channel.
Its central position in the Atlantic made Horta a stopover between Europe and the Americas: a call for whalers, a coaling station for steamships and, from 1893 to 1969, a link for telegraph cables. In 1919 the first transatlantic flight landed in the bay, and flying boats stopped here from 1939.
North of the centre stand the Faial windmills on the Lomba da Espalamaca, one of the landmarks around Horta. Closer to the waterfront, the Fort of Santa Cruz, begun in 1567, recalls the centuries when the bay needed defending from raids, including English attacks in 1589 and 1597.