Horta, the town at the eastern end of Faial, one of the islands that make up the Azores in the North Atlantic, has long been a major destination or stopping point for trans-Atlantic sailors, including many from Maine.
It’s customary for visiting sailors to commemorate their voyages with paintings on the town’s big breakwaters. Today there are thousands of these paintings, stretching along what may be a mile of concrete and granite wall.
Thirty years ago, I was aboard a sloop from Belfast, Maine, that made the trip and left a painting, long-since weathered away or painted over. The custom—and the mandatory visit to Peter’s Café Sport on the waterfront—persist today.
These photos were taken at Horta during a visit in mid-May with my wife, Janice Drinan.
