The last island I visited on my Azores tour was Faial. Horta is the main city - a lively maritime town, where everything seems to be about the sea, the sea, whales, fish and crossing the great oceans. Besides the hundred of paintings on the marina, I did come across some street art while walking around town.
In the marina you can see countless masts. The town has been characterized by seafarers since the 18th century. From the 18th century, American whalers began to come to Horta harbour. It became quite a lively center for international trade. I think you still get that feeling. Many cafes and restaurants have walls decorated with memories of the island's connection to the sea, such as old charts and postcards from around the world.
All the motives has something to do with the sea and lives there. We tried to guess which fish the tails belonged to, but I don't think we came up with anything right! Horta is still the sailors' town. The sailors' adventures are depicted in colorful paintings on the mololo in the yacht harbor.
The marina is completely covered in paintings. There is not a free spot for a new painting. I have no idea how many there are. But there must be hundreds. Maybe a thousand. The paintings cover every square meter and if you want to take a good look at each one, you will have to spend more than a day. It is painted by sailors who stop by the island to stock up on provisions or simply lie around waiting for the right wind conditions before they crosses the Atlantic. The tradition behind the paintings, is that leaving your mark here provides a safe journey home. It was an incredible experience to see so many imaginative paintings from people from all over the world. We found the painting for our own school ship "Sørlandet", which has visited on a round-the-world cruise.
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