A 300 Year Old Azorean Manor House

The house we are staying in is a 18th Century country manor house in the little village of Sao Bartolomeu.

Fernando, the host, said that it has been in his family for many years but was damaged during the New Year's Day 1980 6.9 magnitude earthquake on Terceira. He told us that roughly 70% of the houses on Terceira were completely demolished, including the historic quarter of the island’s capital, Angra do Heroísmo. Public buildings such as churches remained intact, while several buildings caved in on themselves. Fernando is a historian so decided to renovate the house but to keep as much of the original as possible.

Every morning we are invited to have breakfast with Fernando and his wife, Lucillia. Breakfast consists of coffee, an assortment of breads, honey and homemade jams, as well as local cheeses from the neighbouring islands.

The house follows the traditional floor plan of having the farm equipment and wine press on the first floor and the main house with a kitchen, dining room, living room and bedrooms on the 2nd floor. The third floor has bedrooms too. We have a room on the bottom floor. It used to be a storage area for tools.

The whole house is full of antiques. Fernando used to be a museum curator so he has quite a collection.

The walled yard is quite large and has many fruit trees and flowers on it. There is also a chicken coop and a pasture that is rented out for cows.Read more