Jaunted

Part of the Azores, Terceira is the second-most populous island in this chain of nine volcanic bumps floating in the northern Atlantic. With a history that goes back centuries, the island has plenty of quirky religious monuments to explore and lots of trekking along windswept trails for the active traveler in you. Just be happy that you didn't have to arrive by rickety ship, like so many explorers have done in the past.

Angra Do Heroismo, the island's biggest city, is a World Heritage Site, with the requisite churches, museums and forts. But it's not all old stuff: Angra offers free WiFi at the Jardim dos Corte-Real, the Museu de Angra and the Centro Cultural. Another town on Terceira, Biscoitos, is home to the island's wine museum, which is worth a stop for the local whites.

And though the season is over for this year, Terceira hosts the Azores' only bullfights. These aren't the fights you're used to, though. The animal's horns are always padded, and bulls run free in the streets with a ropes around their necks.They call it bullfighting on a rope, and it's as wild as you'd expect.

Getting there
Lajes Air Base, where an Airbus 330 managed to glide in for a safe landing after running out of fuel in 2001, is also the island's airport. Your flight in will hopefully land at the airstrip with gas to spare.

Azores Express (part of Grupo SATA) runs flights from Boston to Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel year-round, and they have flights out of Oakland and Providence part of the year. Once you're in the islands, it's easy to puddle jump over to Terceira. You can also fly to Europe and then on to the islands on TAP Portugal.

Ferries connect some of the islands, but inter-island travel is best done by air.

Related Stories:
· Little Known Destinations coverage [Jaunted]
· Europe Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Angra Do Heroismo Hotels [HotelChatter]

[Photo: Fr Antunes]