From the airport it’s a short drive into Vila do Porto, the Santa Maria island’s principal town and the first settlement in the archipelago to be designated a vila or town (mid 15th century). Situated in a sheltered natural harbour, you can see why the colonists chose to develop it as a port, though the waters are too shallow for large modern vessels. There is much in these islands to remind the traveller of south-west England.
Indeed Porto still seems to belong to the 15th century, with cobbled streets and some of the colonists’ original buildings still standing. The island’s ‘mother church’ is the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Amodio (Our Lady of the Assumption), its square white bell-tower looking like a church tower in Devon that happens to have been whitewashed. Originally 15th century, the church was burnt down by pirates in 1630 and rebuilt a few years later (with 19th century additions), featuring a mixture of gothic and manueline styles.
A former Franciscan convent church, Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Vitoria, is another of Porto’s proudest monuments; it contains a fine collection of azulejo panels (17th century) showing the miraculous deeds of St Anthony. Originally built in 1607, this church too was destroyed by pirates – twice in fact, in 1616 and 1675. The present building is mainly 18th/19th century. The church faces a large bronze memorial, Padrio das Descobertas (Monument to the Discoveries), which was erected in 1932 on the traditional anniversary of the ‘discovery’ of Santa Maria by Goncalo Velho Cabral, 15 August, or Santa Maria’s Day, hence the island’s name.
Also of interest is Porto’s fortress, Forte de Siio Bras, dating from the 16th century but only recently restored after centuries of pirate attacks and gradual neglect.
