The beautiful Azores lie around 1,360 km west of Portugal, 1,510 km northwest of Morocco, and 1,925 km southeast of Newfoundland. It’s a few years now since I visited, but their stunning beauty (and highly changeable weather) remain etched in my memory.
As do these gorgeous murals in Horta.
Many famous yachting names, such as Joshua Slocum and Sir Francis Chichester have anchored their boats here and it is also a port of call for international regattas.
No one seems to know exactly when or why this decorative tradition started, but at some point a sailor visitor to Horta decided to leave behind a reminder of their trip in picture form on the dock wall.
Over the years, many more such paintings followed, so that soon the whole wall was covered and now new paintings cover old ones. Studying the images and trip details makes a pleasant way to while away your time as you wander around the harbour here.
One word of warning, though, for visiting sailors. Superstition has it that if you fail to leave a painted record of your visit your future may not be rosy. So be sure to pack your paint and brushes!
Linked to Monday Murals.
Travel with Intent 
I really like this tradition, although I’m not quite sure what I would paint if I happened to sail in . Is it just the crew/captain that paint or passengers, too?
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It’s just small boats with a family or small crew I think
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Fun and interesting destination. Did you bring your paints?
Visiting a bit late from Travel photos Monday.
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No because a) my skill in that area are zero and b) I flew in 🙂
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Love those, beautiful
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Beautiful and interesting.
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Reblogged this on mapsworldwide blog.
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What a great idea!
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What a fun tradition. Weren’t the Azores a kind of refueling station for exploration going west? Thanks for contributing to this week’s Monday Mural.
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I was browsing blogs by tags and typed “azores” to find ideas for landscape photos – and was greatly impressed when found this post! I fell in love with the colours and the point of view – yep, the Azores is not a place where only ocean panoramas exist (: Thank you for your blog!
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Oh, I like the one from Delphinus!
And I never really thought about how close the Azores are to Nfld compared to Portugal!
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Yes, they’re incredibly remote and incredibly beautiful.
On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 12:10 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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What a nice habit!
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