Visiting 3 museums in the area for 2.5 euros, senior rate. Let’s visit together.

This Museum was a former cloistered monastery for the Sisters of St Clare who were associated with Saint Francis of Assisi.

The Chapel where prayer was conducted by the sisters at 6, 9, 12, 3, and 9.

Mass was conducted at the main altar, however, the sisters attended from behind the grillwork. Sisters were always apart from the community but received holy communion through an opening in the grillwork.

When the sisters had visits they visited behind a double grillwork. Touching was allowed by a slight of hand through the grillwork.

The people were allowed in by a sister with a key 🔑 to the door. She held the key for 3 years. The museum staff were unaware of the number of sisters that were cloistered here or the exact dates of the cloister.

Other Artifacts at the Museum

A typical Azores kitchen in the 1800s.

And of course a fish.. 🐟 There were many nautical items on display here.

Next was the Saint Barbara Museum round the corner. While there were many artifacts all descriptions were written in Portuguese.

This was a combination church and museum. Again most descriptions in Portuguese so will give only pictures.

And the church altar was all hand carved and gold filled. It was a hundred year undertaking and the gilding was never completed as the Portuguese King forced the government jesuits from the Azores. The docent was unsure what the spat was between the Jesuits and the King.

This concludes my trip to the Azores. While a beautiful place have mixed feelings about it.

Perhaps I learned why when the tour guide stated the Azorians don’t like the influx of tourists. Never had a tour guide state that and if you do visit you may find as I did that residents are either happy to see you or aloof and stand offish.