More than 1,400 kilometres from the coast of mainland Portugal, a city rises in the middle of the Atlantic, black and white like a checkerboard: whitewashed façades, basalt window frames and volcanic cobblestones. Ponta Delgada, capital of São Miguel Island in the Azores, welcomes the ship right in the heart of the city — and behind the bell towers, craters, lakes and hot springs await.

Disembarking right in town

The Portas do Mar terminal puts passengers steps from the main avenue: five minutes on foot is enough to reach the Portas da Cidade, the city's three emblematic arches, standing opposite the marina. All around stretch shopping streets paved with Portuguese mosaics, the mother church of São Sebastião and a series of squares where hydrangeas spill out of the gardens.

The basalt checkerboard

The historic centre is easily explored on foot. Azorean architecture plays everywhere on the contrast of black and white: convents, chapels and merchants' houses display their frames of volcanic stone. The Graça market, with its stalls of pineapples, fish and island cheeses, offers one of the liveliest scenes in the city — and an excellent overview of what this fertile island produces.

Sete Cidades, the crater with two lakes

São Miguel's most famous excursion leads in about forty minutes to the Vista do Rei lookout. Below spreads the immense caldera of Sete Cidades: a crater several kilometres across occupied by twin lakes, one green and the other blue, separated by a simple bridge. The village and its church nestle at the bottom, between pastures and hydrangea hedges. On a clear day, it is one of the great landscapes of the Atlantic.

Furnas, the steaming valley

Another face of the island, about three-quarters of an hour away by road: the Furnas valley, where the earth bubbles. Fumaroles, hot springs and mud pools — and a unique culinary tradition: cozido, a stew of meats and vegetables cooked for several hours in the volcanic ground. Many excursions combine the tasting with a swim in the iron-rich pools of Terra Nostra Park, a truly memorable experience.

Pineapple and tea

São Miguel grows products you would not expect to find in Europe: pineapples grow here in greenhouses, on family plantations you can visit on the outskirts of the city, and the north coast is home to tea plantations that are among the only ones on the European continent. With the cheeses, queijadas and local liqueurs, your gourmet luggage fills up quickly. Passion fruit liqueurs and biscuits from Além slip easily into a suitcase; fresh pineapple, on the other hand, is best enjoyed on the spot, cut up at the market.

Giants offshore

São Miguel is also one of the best whale-watching spots in Europe: sperm whales, dolphins and, depending on the season, blue whales cruise off the island. Boat trips depart from the marina, steps from the terminal, led by biologists. The old whaling lookouts, converted to whale watching, still guide the boats from the cliffs — a direct legacy of the days when the archipelago lived from whaling, now turned into a celebration.

The island you promise to see again

As the ship pulls away from the pier, São Miguel lines up its green hills dotted with white one last time. A single port call is barely enough to skim this garden island set in the middle of the ocean; it is more than enough, however, to understand why so many travellers return to the Azores with more time on their hands.