sidewalk in Ponta Delgado, Azores

The archipelago of the Azores is made up of nine volcanic islands, sitting about two-thirds of the way across the Atlantic, about 1000 miles from the mainland of Portugal. Sheila and I stayed in Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel, the largest of the nine.

The first day was spent tromping around the town, shopping, and checking out restaurants on the waterfront. The people at the front desk in the hotel told us that getting to the marina was an easy ten minute walk, but what they didn’t mention was that the sidewalks along the way would be part of the scenery.

Volcanic rock (basalt) is widely used for outer walls and decorative slabs in the public squares and combined with limestone for the mosaic designs on the cobblestone sidewalks. Every culture uses local materials for the buildings and other needed structures, but Sheila and I got a kick out of this creative way of making something as ordinary as a sidewalk into a functional work of art.

Lagoa das Sete Cidades, Azores

Later in the week, we drove past twin lakes, one green and one blue, sitting at the bottom of the volcanic crater in the Sete Cidades area. There were no visible eruptions while we were on the island, but we were told that as recently as 2005, magma actually rose to the surface in one of the reservoirs. They don’t tell you that in the travel brochures.

Elsewhere in the Azores, major earthquakes, underwater eruptions, and landslides left thousands of people homeless in the late 1990s, so volcanologists from several countries now collect data and try to predict when the next big event will take place. Meanwhile, the Azoreans create jewelry out of the lava stone, grow pineapples in the rich fields, and play golf on top of volcanic sand, ignoring what lies beneath. I always check the weather before I leave the house, but next time we go to the Azores to watch the whales, I’ll check the seismology report.

*photographs taken by Patti Phillips

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