I’m standing on one of the nine westernmost islands of Europe.  Few Americans have ever even heard of them.  Fewer have even come.  In fact, most people don’t even know where they are, which is about 800 miles off the coast of Portugal in the Atlantic.  Some might argue that these are the islands that time forgot.  That might be true.  But history hasn’t forgotten, and I haven’t forgotten.  So let me share with you some of my hidden gems of the Azores.  

From the very beginning, when the islands were first discovered in the 15th century, explorers described the archipelago as “mysterious” — but these islands soon had great appeal for visitors attracted to the mythology of the Azores, as well as their strategic location.

Many explorers claim to have visited the islands, but the official discovery of the archipelago is credited to Diogo de Silves around 1427 when he landed on the easternmost islands of the chain.

But the question surrounding who first found the Azores is only a small part of its colorful history—which also includes controversial theories surrounding prehistoric settlements, volcanic activity, pirates and revolutions.

Then, during World War II, people continued to discover the Azores, almost by accident.  

The U.S. built an airport on Santa Maria Island, and after the war, the Azores became a major and mandatory refueling stop for transatlantic flights going to and from North America because no planes had the range to get to any European capitals. 

Today it’s not a refueling stop but a bona fide destination.  As the closest part of Europe to the United States, it’s only about a four-and-a-half hour flight from Boston to Ponta Delgada, the capital of São Miguel—the largest and most populous island in the chain.

It’s here in São Miguel you’ll find Sete Cidades Lake. Situated in the crater of a dormant volcano are twin lakes—one blue, and the other green. Legend has it that the lakes were filled with the tears of a green-eyed princess who fell in love with a blue-eyed shepherd—but the two were forbidden to be together.

The best view of the lakes can be seen from the Vista Do Rei—”The King’s Lookout”— but you can also rent a kayak and get out on the lakes to see the colorful lakes up close. From the water you get a real sense of being inside a crater.  Paddling both lakes, you can see up close the ecological diversity that creates the difference in color when the sun shines on them.

If you want to see more green on the “green island”, one of the best places to do it is at the Gorreana Tea Plantation. It’s the oldest and one of only two tea plantations in Europe, both of which happen to be in the Azores.

The island’s temperate climate makes it the ideal place to cultivate the plants which have grown on Gorreana’s 32 acre farm since 1883 after two Chinese tea experts introduced the estate’s owners to the art of growing tea. Today, the leaves are still picked by hand, and the plantation produces about 33 tons of tea per year. 

One of the best things about the Azores is how manageable they are.  On the island of São Miguel alone, more than 100 miles of road encircle the island, making it really easy to get around, not to mention dozens of trails up on the hills.  There are some great places to ride along the water, but if you’re looking for history, you don’t have to ride far to find it.

Cerâmica Vieira, a pottery factory just outside of Ponta Delgada, has been around since 1862 and it’s been in the same family for six generations.

If you’re a fan of traditional blue and white Portuguese ceramics, you’ll find plenty to choose from.  But if you want something a little more personal to take home with you— the folks here in the factory will teach you how to do it yourself.

About a 15 minute drive from Cerâmica Vieira, you’ll find the hot springs of Caldeira Velha, where you can take a dip in the warm volcanic pool and splash around in the waterfall cascading down the slope of the Fogo Volcano.

If you’d rather visit an actual spa, go to the nearby Termas das Caldeiras. Tucked away in a little mountain village, this simple, rustic spa has private tubs in their treatment rooms—where you can also choose from a menu of traditional spa services, like massages and facials that incorporate local mud and hot volcanic stones. 

But in the Azores, volcanic energy is useful for more than just supplying nature’s hot tubs with warm water.

Around Furnas Lake, you’ll find designated areas to cook a Portuguese specialty called cozido–a stew composed of a farmer’s market’s worth of veggies and a selection of meat.  But here, it’s called Cozido das Furnas because it’s cooked in an underground steam chamber powered by the island’s volcanic hot springs. 

“This started a long time ago after an earthquake happened and opened some holes and people discovered cooking inside the holes,” chef Vitor Veloso said. 

“This starts with the lumberjacks working around here and they need to reheat the food.  They put the pans or bags inside the holes and make their own food.  They put the pans or bags inside the holes and make their own food during the time that they’re working.”

Vitor Veloso is the head chef at the Terra Nostra Garden Hotel in Furnas—and every single day, he prepares cozido for the hotel restaurant.  

Each pot, which serves 25 to 30 people, is cooked in one of these steamy holes at a temperature that averages about 190 degrees. Then, seven to eight hours later, the pot is lifted from the hole and transported to the restaurant kitchen, where the chef removes the cozido from the pot and puts it on platters ready to serve.

If you feel like you need a little bit of exercise after a meal like that, you might want to take a walk through the hotel’s namesake botanical gardens.

On your way to the garden, stop by the massive thermal pool.  Built in 1780 and enlarged in 1935, the brown water may not look very enticing, but it’s just minerals and dissolved iron that give the pool its murky appearance.  

The garden itself, which is the oldest botanical garden in the archipelago, was built in the traditional style of a classic English garden. It contains unique collections of European flowers, plants, and ferns—as well as groves of bamboo, palms and giant gingko trees.

And then there’s the hidden gem within the hidden gem. At the 14 room Furnas Lake Villas, you’ll find a hotel, a restaurant and a farm. But if you’re looking for a truly immersive experience, first you have to suit up.

Hotel owner Manuel Gago da Camara has transformed this 255 acre property — which has been in his family for hundreds of years — into an eco-resort here in the furnas volcanic basin.  And, he’s loaded countless guests into the back of his truck for a very atypical hotel adventure: beekeeping.

Now, if I’m anywhere near the water, I’m going to fish, and here in the Azores, you don’t even need to go out on a boat.  You can fish right off the pier in the Vila Franca do Campo harbor, which is exactly what I did, with Filip Suarez, a local fisherman here on São Miguel Island.

“We can catch tuna. We can catch amberjack. We can catch kalijack, today, we catch groupers,” Filip said. 

And indeed, we did catch grouper, but we weren’t finished. Filip insisted that I experience some true Portuguese hospitality with a home cooked meal of, you guessed it, grouper—-at his house.

With nine islands to visit, there’s something for everyone, and if you like to snorkel or dive, you’ll want to make sure you get to Terceira.

The beautiful thing about this island is you don’t have to go very far to see some incredible underwater sights.  In fact, 74 separately recorded shipwrecks dating back a few hundred years are about a two minute boat ride from the Angra do Heroísmo harbor. 

You’ll find the underwater wreckage of the 256 foot long iron-hulled steamship, the Lidador, which sank here in 1878 due to a southeast wind that pushed the ship into a reef. It’s an easy and shallow dive… only about 26 feet, so it’s great for beginners.  It’s part of an underwater archaeological park which includes 40 ancient anchors.

It’s also a great place to snorkel because it’s so accessible and there’s plenty of marine life to see: wide-eyed-flounder, black sea urchin, octopi, round fantail stingray and triggerfish to name a few.  But one of the things you’ll really want to keep an eye out for, and a good distance from, is the Portuguese man-of-war. 

And then just 5 minutes away from the dive—everything’s really that close here—you’re in store for a truly Azorean treasure.  It’s a little cake that’s been around since 1901, and trust me, if you think you’re only going to eat one, you’re delusional.

Stop by O Forno Bakery for a Dona Amelia cake – a traditional pastry made here in Terceira.  They’re almost like little cheesecakes, except they’re made with spices from the Far East. 

Originally called Indianos, the name was changed to honor Queen Amelia after she visited the island with her husband, King Carlos, back when Portugal was still a monarchy. 

Part of the enduring history of the islands might surprise you in the 21st century. 

In the Azores, they’ve been doing bullfights for more than four centuries.  What distinguishes these bullfights from anywhere else in the world, is that here they don’t kill the bull in the ring. Between May and October, every single night around 6:30, they run the bulls through different villages around the island. The locals know to arrive early, not only to get a prime viewing spot, but to take part in a giant block party while they wait for the bulls to take to the streets.

In the meantime, the bulls wait in specially-designed transport boxes, until it’s time for the event to begin. In the Azores, everyone is an expert on bullfights because they’ve grown up with it, it’s part of their culture. And because the location changes from village to village— the bullfights are not always easy to find.

“They change the location because it’s related with the different festivals they do in the village.  So every festival needs to have at least one street bullfight,” said Azorean native Pedro Correia. 

Correia also knows the best places not to be during the bullfight. 

“It’s better [on the balconies and bars].  It’s a safe place,” said Corriea. “The most crazy they are closer to the bull… the others came in on the backside.” 

With the bullfight about to start, I had no intention of being one of the crazy ones to run with—or more likely—away from the bull– so it was time for us to get out of the street, and on to the sidelines.

To keep the bull from running free, it’s held on a long rope–by anywhere from seven to ten very strong men who control the direction and distance the bull can travel. While it can’t get free, it can get wild.

The animal’s horns are also capped with metal balls or leather pouches to protect the amateur bullfighters—who chase the bull through the street, using an umbrella or jacket to get its attention. Some people say that this is also a local courting ritual, that they are trying to gain the affection of one of the many young women watching the action from the rooftops and sidelines. 

Part of the dance is to anticipate if the bull will turn right or left as it chases you. The math is easy: you have a 50/50 chance of feeling some pain.

As in any sport, the fans have their favorites, but in this case, it’s the bulls that they follow. Each bull participates in the fight for anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, and when he’s finished, he goes back into the box.

And they live to fight another day. 

Once the fourth — and final — bull finishes his run, he and the other bulls are sent to a pasture to rest for at least eight days before another fight. While the bulls may be done for the evening, the people in the streets definitely are not. They’ll continue to party on into the wee hours of the night.