Santa Maria, the yellow island of the Azores Archipelago

Back to the Azores series lets fly over almost half of the North Atlantic ocean and read what Nuno has to say about another one of the islands of the Archipelago. Flaps on, landing gear down, it's time to land at Santa Maria :)

Also known as the yellow island Santa Maria is one of the smallest islands and belongs to the eastern group, being the most southern island of the two.


Santa Maria is synonym of beaches and dream landscapes. Cut by deep bays, it has the better beaches in the Azores archipelago and also a good climate with many hours of sun. For those who like sportive holidays the waves are good for surfers, sport sea fishing, windsurf and even scuba diving.

For those who like calm holidays, the suggestion goes to take refreshing and energizing walks through Santa Maria's countryside. Must sees are the island greenly hills and plains without vegetation, the rural sights and countryside life and of course the São Lourenço bay, with it's natural and beautiful big shell form.


Other settlements worthy of a visit are Vila do Porto, Santo Espírito, Anjos and São Pedro. This wonderful route with it's old churches, monasteries and fortresses will for sure be keept in memory for long time.


For those who appreciate food enjoy the fresh fish, the delicious mollusks (lapas and cracas), and the traditional desserts. Although Santa Maria is a small island it has several well kept and delicious secrets...

One final note to where to stay? Since it's very close, if you consider visiting São Miguel too, you can always opt to base your trip at Ponta Delgada. It's a bigger island with more to see and the city is beautiful. Available are several cool hotels in the center like the Azores Atlantico or, for those of you who like historical places, the Camoes Hotel. From Ponta Delgada it's then possible to travel to Santa Maria by plane or boat, for both options same comment - small but beautiful trips ;)

Portugal and Spain seen from Space

How about that, my beloved hometown Lisbon seen from space!! It's all over the news here in Portugal - NASA's photo of the day is a beautiful snapshot of the Iberian Peninsula taken from the International Space Station last 4th of December.

Taken by night, the photo shows the fantastic light spectacle made by the cities all over the Peninsula. It's absolutely amazing how the lights can so clearly identify the land, allowing us to easily find several of the major cities of both Portugal and Spain.

Very easy to spot are the Portuguese capital Lisbon (bellow near the shoreline to the middle), the Spanish capital Madrid (far into the center of the Peninsula directly above Lisbon) the coastal city of Seville (to the right near the Gibraltar Straight).

Also being the 4th of December a Saturday night, I would guess that half of Lisbon's lights must be from "Bairro Alto". All the way from the Altis Hotel to the streets near Bairro Alto Hotel the city is filled with people enjoying the nightlife. The discos and the many, many bars open till late hours always fill the city streets with people, music and light :)

Now more seriously, let me leave here a huge thanks to NASA for taking and sharing wonderful pictures like this one. Loved to see how my country looks from up there!