Encircling the wide bay between Monte da Guia in the south and the rocky headland of Punta da Espalamaca in the north, Horta is essentially a port and a chief town of the Azorean district of Faial, Pico, Corvo and Flores. The town rises at the edge of a large rounded bay facing Pico and near the sea-coast and of the fertile Valley of the Flemings. With Ponta Delgada, Horta is the only modern port in Azores.
Until the breakwater was built in the 1880s, Horta’s port was to the south of Monte da Guia at Porto Pim, but now ships sail round the half-submerged volcanic crater to enter Horta itself. In the south, this breakwater is joined to a volcanic promontory formed by the two former eruptive cones, the Monte Queimado and the Monte da Guia, joined together by a narrow stretch of sand which protects the anchorage of Porto Pim. And the first seaplane to visit the Azores landed in Horta’s port in 1919.
Dominating the town port is the squat creeper-clad fortress formerly called the Castelo de Santa Cruz, dating from 1565. In 1947 it was declared a monument nacional and now it has become an excellent hotel, the Estalagem de Santa Cruz. To one side of the fortress-hotel is a quay where small boats leave for Pico, to the other side is a small garden, Jardim do Infante Dom Henrique, with a bust of Prince Henry himself.
Among Horta’s several fine churches, one of the most notable is the Igreja Matriz de Siio Salvador, formerly a Jesuit convent church. The original church dating from the early 16th century was burnt down by those dastardly English marauders in 1597 and the present building dates from around 1610, with a rather forbidding facade. Another interesting church stands on the isthmus between Horta and Porto Pim, Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Anguistias, of 17th-century construction but replacing an earlier chapel built in the 15th century for the wife of Josse Van Huerter. Yet another church, Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Roasiuio, also known as Igreja de Sao Francisco, after the Franciscan monks who built it, now houses Horta’s Museum of Sacred Art.
With several lively cafes, bars and restaurants, lots of helpful agencies for boat or car-hire, plus a friendly, helpful Tourist Office, Horta is certain to become increasingly popular among tourists looking for a holiday with a difference.
