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After a restful day at sea in the Atlantic, we made landfall in Ponta Delgada on the pretty island of San Miguel, the largest in a chain of nine volcanic islands off the coast of Portugal called the Azores. 

While officially discovered in 1427 by Portuguese Captain Diogo de Silva, this lush archipelago was likely visited by others before him including the Carthaginians, and was possibly home to the legendary island of Atlantis. In fact, the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about a “powerful land beyond the Pillars of Hercules” (the strait of Gibraltar) that was the way to other lands, but sank during a time of earthquakes and floods.

Today, the islands sit on the peaks of volcanic mountains that are among the highest in the world (as measured from the sea bottom).  Like most volcanic islands, the Azores are incredibly fertile and are blessed with a warm and humid climate. With their lush rolling pastures and abundance of hedgerows sharing space with wild flowering hydrangeas, azaleas, and hibiscus, it’s been said that from afar the Azores look like someone took a handful of glimmering emeralds and cast them across a cloth of deep blue velvet.

After leaving Lisbon, it had taken us some 36 hours to reach the Azores, which are located some 750 nautical miles off the coast of Portugal and about one-quarter of the way across the Atlantic Ocean to North America. This remote location has resulted in the Azores being a strategic port of call over the centuries, both on the routes to the Americas and the East Indies.  In fact, Christopher Columbus stopped here on his return from his first voyage of discovery in 1493.  More recently, the islands have provided military facilities during both World Wars and for the NATO alliance. 

While the Azores have a rich cultural history based on their predominantly Portuguese and Flemish ancestry, the islands have few significant landmarks that date back more than a few centuries. This is because most of the more elaborate Manueline-style of architecture used before the 17^th century was destroyed by earthquakes, leaving only a few survivors like the 16^th-century Sao Sebastiao church in Ponta Delgada.

What the Azores have in spades, however, is natural beauty, and we decided to see it for ourselves on one of the ship’s bus excursions into the interior of San Miguel. The tour we chose was a visit to the crater lakes, a natural phenomenon of blue and green-coloured lakes in the caldera of an extinct volcano, separated only by a narrow isthmus of lava. 

Once our bus left Ponta Delgada, we climbed high into the island’s interior along narrow country roads surrounded by high hedgerows of plants and flowers on one side, and steep inclines of rolling pastures overhanging the coastline several miles below on the other. After a series of hairpin turns and blind bends, we eventually arrived at a belvedere overlooking the town of “Sete Cidades,” some 550 metres above sea level.

 Legend has it that “Lagoa Azul” (Blue Lake) and “Lagoa Verde” (Green Lake) were formed by two tears of sadness dropped by a blue-eyed princess and her lover, a green-eyed shepherd, during their last meeting after the king had forbidden their romance.  The truth is that the green of Lagoa Verde is the result of a buildup of algae, which has failed to take hold in Lagoa Azul!

The air at sea level back in Ponta Delgada had been balmy and warm, but up here with wisps of low cloud swirling around us it was misty and cool – as is often the case given the high humidity in the islands. As a result, it was difficult for us to make out the different colours of the lakes, and to fully enjoy our marvelous vantage point.  

After a short stop at the belvedere, we boarded our bus for the return drive along the winding mountain road back to the port of Ponta Delgada, with her cobblestone squares and lovely Alentejo-style white buildings. It was now time for lunch, so we walked through the city back to the pier where we found a lovely Portuguese restaurant called A Colmeia Grill and Wine Bar. 

As we sat on the patio enjoying delicious tapas of shrimp, tuna and local sausage in full view of our ship, we realized that this would be the last time we would eat and walk on terra firma for the next five days. We had seen nine fabulous European cities in 13 days, and while the experience had been marvelous, we had no regrets. After all, we were about to spend the better part of a week sleeping late, taking long walks, reading great books, and doing nothing more challenging than drinking martinis and eating three gourmet meals a day as we leisurely crossed the Atlantic!