Travel: Europe: The Azores: Isles of Portugal (Sao Miguel)

Why did we want to visit the Azores, our friends asked. Because they're there, we answered. There is something so appealing about a handful of islands flung 600 miles from the nearest continent. They were incredibly beautiful and so were the people. We want to return ... with less of a crowd. ... Jack and Mary

*Click on thumbnails to see larger photos*
Sao Miguel: Where our National Geographic trip in October 2003 on Lindblad's MS Endeavour began and ended ...		Photos by Jack Dodge
	Green, green, everywhere was our first impression of Sao Miguel, once we left the capital of Ponta Delgado. This rural scene, right, was on the edge of the lovely village of Sete Cidades (Seven Cities).

Despite an almost timeless setting, a cable dish reminded us we were in the present.	Mythology says these two lakes, one green and one blue when the sun is bright, were formed from the tears of an ancient princess of Sete Cidades and the shepherd boy her father, the king, forbade her to wed.

The Terra Nostra Garden includes succulents, flowers, a fern garden and a huge naturally fed thermal swimming pool.	The flowers that cover these beautiful islands are all "exotics" but they've been around for so long, and the growing conditions are so favorable, they look like natives. Hydrangeas cover the hillsides much of the year, but in the fall it's time for these pink lilies, known as "Girls Go to School" because when they bloom, it means classes will be beginning soon.

Some 22 different mineral waters spout from the hot springs of Sao Miguel, where you can come to be treated at the baths.	Furnas Lake is the site of the caldeiras, where hot steam is escaping from the volcano that lurks below. Here generations of Azoreans have come to cook great pots of a meat and vegetable stew called Cozido nas Caldeiras in the specially dug holes that fill with steam. We ended our stay in the Azores with this treat. ... On to Graciosa, Flores and Corvo ...