São Miguel Island, Azores — Another look at Ribeira Grande

I gave Ribeira Grande short shrift on Monday’s blog. In that article you saw one church, and two photos of a factory liquor store. You probably thought, “What the heck?” Well, I only had three shots I wanted to post of Salto do Cabrito, so I threw in those images of Ribeira Grande to pad out the article. Needless to say, we now need to head back and take a more in-depth view of this charming little town and what it has to offer. Well start with heading back to that Baroque marvel, the Igreja do Divino Espírito (Church of the Holy Spirit)

Let’s zoom in on one of those Baroque details:

Now, I know some people who are so entranced by the Baroque architectural style that they tend to ignore everything else. But to them I say, “Hey… if it ain’t Baroque, don’t nix it” (is that a loud groan I heard out there). For if you do, you’d miss out on the impressive Ribeira Grande Town Hall:

Or the Teatro Ribeiragrandense (Theater Ribeira Grande). This colorful building has quite the grand appearance as you approach it from the east:

You may recall from Monday the colorful balcony shot I took at the Mulher de Capote factory liquor store. Well, here’s the rest of the façade:

Finally, if you stand next to the previously mentioned town hall, you’ll see the Big River, or in other words, the Ribeira (River) Grande (Large). Down there, below street level, is a playground (Plac Zabaw), but I was more interested in the red benches contrasting against the green grass. So, I call this shot The Red Benches: