What you need to know about Horta

Horta is a single municipality and city in the western part of the Archipelago of the Azores, encompassing the island of Faial. The population in 2011 was 15,038 in an area of 173.06 km². The city of Horta itself has a population of about 7,000. The marina is a primary stop for yachts crossing the Atlantic, and its walls, and walkways are covered in paintings created by visitors who noted the names of their vessels, crews, and the years they visited. Peter's Cafe Sport, which is located across from the marina and houses the island's scrimshaw museum, a collection artifacts carved from whale tooth and jawbone, is a point of reference for trans-Atlantic yachtsmen and sailors.

Area Size: 173,1 km²

Currency

Culture

The city contains the Horta Regional Museum which has a permanent exhibit, Exhibition of Capelinhos Volcano, that details in photographs the recent (1957) volcanic eruption in the Azores. The museum also contains a large collection of scale models of buildings, ships, and people carved from fig kernels carved by Euclides Rosa.

Climate

Horta has the typical humid subtropical climate associated with the Azores, with significant oceanic influences, due to the August mean temperature just being above the 22 °C (72 °F) isotherm separating the classifications under the Köppen system. Horta is the city in the archipelago that is most prone to high temperatures, and unlike Angra do Heroísmo and Ponta Delgada temperatures of above 30 °C (86 °F) have been recorded on a few occasions. However, averages are extremely similar to the aforementioned cities. Precipitation averages about 975 millimetres (38.4 in) per year, and is concentrated in the winter months. On average, December is the wettest month, while July is the driest. This makes Horta, like much of the Azores, more similar to Mediterranean (Koppen Csa/Csb) climates in its annual precipitation cycle than in most other humid subtropical climates worldwide.

Economy

Due to its central position in the Triangle of islands in the central group of the archipelago, the city and municipality of Horta has been the focus of economic activity on Faial. It was the staging and export centre for many of the economic cycles of the region; the export of woad, oranges, whale oil and Pico Verdelho wines were the products that historically built the economy of the island. Many of the landed gentry concentrated their shops, production facilities and homes in the city, while agricultural goods were shipped to the city before being sent on to Europe or North America. For a long time, the island of Pico was an exclave of Horta (with summer homes, parcels and herds owned by residents of Faial) until its emancipation on 8 March 1723. After the failure of the economic cycles, through boom-and-bust economies (brought on by weather, disease or market deviation) the city of Horta became a staging point for the transatlantic shipment, firstly for the whaling fleets, but then later by the submarine cable companies that laid the communication lines from Europe to North America. These spurts of growth concentrated the population, political and economic classes within Horta and economic activities on Faial.

Human geography

Three parishes comprise the urban area of the city of Horta (the urbanized area and historical center): Angústias, Conceição, and Matriz. The remaining parishes comprising the rest of the municipality are located along the Regional E.R.1-1ª road network, and includes lands from the ocean to the central volcano (with the exception of Flamengos, which is the only landlocked parish). Faial island, comprising Horta urbanized area and the parishes, has an area of 173.06 km².

Transportation

The island is circled by the Regional E.R.1-1ª roadway which directly connects all the parish centres (except Flamengos) with the city Horta. Apart from personal vehicles, a bus system provides daily access from these hinterlands daily. Centre of most activity in the municipality is the port and passenger terminal in the city which, until 28 July 2012, was located south of the Fort of Santa Cruz, in the parish of Angustias. The passenger ferry, operated by Transmaçor (the Cruzeiro do Canal and Cruzeiro da Ilha), provided passenger service to and from the island of Pico (Madalena), while Atlânticoline (using contracted ships) provided inter-island service to the remaining islands from the main dock, across the harbour. On 28 July 2012, a new passenger ferry and dock was inaugurated across the harbour at the mouth of the Ribeira da Conceição (across from the old District Courthouse). A 33 million Euro project, the dock was started in 2009, and resulted in a 393 metres (1,289 ft) long wharf, with a 267 metres (876 ft) usable docking space, 80 metres (260 ft) width and two ramps for RO-RO operations for the express purpose of supporting passenger traffic within the triangle islands of the central Azores. An embankment, constituting 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft) area was also built, to protect the Ribeira da Conceição, with 130 metres (430 ft) length and a passenger terminal building.