​​​ Lost Paradises Travels - Europe  

​AZORES (Portugal)

Terceira Island

Terceira settlement began in 1450 and it was the 3rd (terceira in portuguese) island to be discovered in the Azorean Archipelago.  Due to its localisation, Terceira was a port of call for the portuguese ships crossing the Atlantic. Angra was the first city on the island, and it gained its final name, Angra do Heroismo (heroism bay) during the 19th century. ​

Terceira is a volcanic island and at its centre, there is the Guilherme Moniz Caldera, flooded by lavas with two thousand years old of the Algar do Carvão scoria cone, where it is the biggest spot of heather in the Azores. The same scenario unfolds to the west, at Serra de Santa Bárbara, where dense thickets of endemic vegetation remember the native forest of the archipelago, commonly known as laurissilva forest. In this way, Terceira represents the largest area of native forest in the archipelago.