David Magina, 34, owner of a water treatment business in Turlock, whose grandfather was a forcado in the Azores, said that fighting bulls has revealed to him the “purity and zeal of being alive. ...

The bull makes no distinction. Spectators’ voices drop to murmurs. ... In 1957, California banned gory bullfights but did allow supporters -- mostly Portuguese dairy farmers from the Azores, ...

Then, right at 6:30 p.m., a firework boomed to start the night’s running of the bulls. Moments later, a massive black bull came down the street, its hoofs clattering.

Bull running (with a rope to protect crowds), and bullfighting, are popular activities in the summer. It's different than the Spanish version -- in Portugal, bulls are not killed, though both ...

Then, right at 6:30 p.m., a firework boomed to start the night’s running of the bulls. Moments later, a massive black bull came down the street, its hoofs clattering.

A team of pastores — herdsmen — loosely control the bull using a rope; however, they are not always 100 percent successful. Locals assured us that the aim is not to harm the bulls during or ...

As party islands go, Terceira is a pretty mild one. This volcanic rock in the Azores archipelago isn’t much like Ibiza, nor Mykonos, nor Hvar. But by Portugal’s decorous standards, Terceira ...

In the Azores, the beaches are mostly black sand and blacker rock, and the ocean, open as it is, can be rough. ... The wind howled, carrying with it the scent of cattle and flowers.

It’s fashionable, if lazy, shorthand to call the Azores the Hawaii of the Atlantic. That’s not wrong—the nine islands have gorgeous rainforests, black lava beaches and wildflowers aplenty ...