Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores

The City of the Big Island of the Azores


The Shadow of the Mother Church
Dusk light above the shadow of the base of the church.
Statue of Joaquim Silvestre Serrão
Architectural and historical detail of the capital of the island of São Miguel.
Shadows and Reflections
Shadows and light at the end of the day in Ponta Delgada.
Looking for Cetaceans
Cetacean search vessel full of passengers.
Beira-Mar house
Buildings and volcanic mound on the outskirts of Ponta Delgada.
Mother Church or San Sebastian
Shadows against the white of the main church of Ponta Delgada.
The Marginal
Clouds over the Ponta Delgada waterfront.
With All Saints
Couple strolls in front of the Church of Todos-os-Santos.
The Prison Establishment
Ponta Delgada's seaside prison.
The Valentine's Garden
Harmony between nature and the architecture of Jardim dos Namorados.
Through the Doors
The architectural harmony of the great city of the Azores.
Sea Mural
Mural decorates an alley in Ponta Delgada.
golden sunset
Ocaso gilds illuminated corners of Ponta Delgada.
The Town Halls
Statue in the middle of the buildings that delimit the City Hall of Ponta Delgada.
Ponta-Delgadense Street
Cityscape, softly lit.
Historic and Modern Ponta Delgada
The new and the old share a border in the capital of São Miguel.
The Gates of Ponta Delgada
Dusk lends color to the symbolic entrance to Ponta Delgada.
During the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, Ponta Delgada became the most populous city and the economic and administrative capital of the Azores. There we find the history and modernism of the archipelago hand in hand.

One of the obstacles that Ponta Delgada always encounters, when it comes to its notoriety, is being surrounded by the great Azorean eden of São Miguel.

There are so many and so stunning the natural scenery around that, all too often, those who land with the program to discover the island, end up ignoring the port city that serves as their gateway.

In opposite directions, there are dream places like Sete Cidades and its lagoons.

The unbelievable panoramas from the viewpoints of Boca do Inferno and Vista do Rei, to name just a few.

There are also the thermal baths of Caldeira Velha and Lagoa do Fogo. At the eastern end of the island, the Vale das Furnas and its sulfurous and surreal world. We could prolong the references for a few more paragraphs, but we would repeat the injustice.

Instead, let's focus on Ponta Delgada's unique and insular beauty.

The Soft Sunset of the South of São Miguel

The memory of how the last light of day turned yellow and almost orange over the city remained with us forever.

How it overlapped the creeping shadow and seemed to set fire to the tops of the old churches, their towers, the pediments and the crosses that crown them.

Projected from the west, every late afternoon, the afterglow takes over Ponta Delgada, its streets and houses.

By the effects and ways of the light, it carries the black of the silhouettes.

And it highlights the elegance of the architecture, the sacred and the profane, which, in Ponta Delgada, prove to be complicated to untangle.

It precedes the tri-arch that makes Portas da Cidade, a black-and-white sidewalk, full of waves and stringed that keep our minds moored to the Atlantic.

When the sun falls behind the ocean, artificial lighting spreads the warm twilight.

Then, the arched doors stand out in an electric blue that overshadows the fading sky.

The Arrival of Religious Orders and Corresponding Christian Temples

Historic Ponta Delgada was built in basalt and limestone, the most convenient materials at hand.

The usual religious orders – Jesuits, Franciscans, Augustinians, Gratians and others – who settled and blessed the city since the early days of the colonization of São Miguel.

On the other side of the Portas, the Igreja Matriz de São Sebastião stands out from its own pavement of stars, in a baroque architecture, with a lot of Manueline style.

Or, according to the perspective, instead.

In any case, it holds one of the greatest Azorean treasures of sacred art, statuary, goldwork and vestments, including two dalmatics and two chasubles dating back six centuries.

To the northwest, a short distance away, stand the Church of Nª Srª da Conceição and the homonymous monastery. The neighboring convent of Nª Srª da Esperança accommodates another sacred treasure, the Senhor Santo Cristo Treasury, made of gold, studded with precious stones and, accordingly, another of the most valuable religious heritage sites in Portugal.

Nearby, we are also surprised by the intricate Church of Todos-os-Santos, next to the Antero de Quental Garden, also known as Jardim dos Namorados, in which two or three couples justify their baptism.

The reverence for God and the temples of his worship do not stop there. There is also the Ermida da Santíssima Trindade, close to that of São Braz.

And, closing off the historic center to the north and east, the Church of Nª Srª de Fátima, the Chapels of Nª Srª das Mercês, Sant'Ana and Mãe de Deus and, already almost by the sea, the Church of Saint Peter.

The liberal revolution inaugurated in 1820, passed decisively through Ponta Delgada. From there the forces of D. Pedro IV who laid siege to Porto.

The triumph of the Liberals dictated, in 1834, the extinction of religious orders.

As we continued to admire, wandering around the historic centre, the monumental legacy of its buildings of retreat and worship remains in Ponta Delgada.

At Mass hours, some of them welcome the largest concentrations of Ponta Delgadas that we come across. The summer months have passed when we visit the city.

With less than seventy thousand inhabitants, spread over a considerable area of ​​the southwest of the island, Ponta Delgada does not seem to be a city with large crowds.

In fact, if it weren't for a geological whim, the capital of São Miguel would be different.

It would resist about 25km to the east.

The Rise of Ponta Delgada, accelerated by the Misfortune of Vila Franca do Campo

The settlement of São Miguel was carried out from 1444 onwards, part of a captaincy in the southeast of the Azores, which also included the island of Santa Maria.

In Ponta Delgada, noble men began to settle in, with possessions and influence in the destinies of São Miguel.

At that time, the main town, both on São Miguel and on the Azores, was Vila Franca do Campo, the seat of the Captaincy.

In 1525, it was destroyed by a powerful earthquake that went down in history as the Subversion of Vila Franca.

It is estimated that the earthquake killed more than XNUMX people.

It made life in the village unfeasible and forced the people who believed in God and the religious who guided them to move.

Most of it went to Ponta Delgada, a town that developed as a result of the customs created there in 1518, but above all, due to the misfortune and demotion of Vila Franca.

From Vila de Santa Clara, to Ponta Delgada Capital of São Miguel

The village was not always called Ponta Delgada.

For a time, the terminology fluctuated between the sacred and the profane. Gaspar Frutuoso, one of the essential chroniclers of the settlement of São Miguel described it in the archaic Portuguese of the time “Ponta Delgada is so called because it is located next to a point of biscuit stone, thin and not thick like others on the island, almost level with the sea, which later, as a chapel of Santa Clara was built very close to it, called Santa Clara point…".

We estimate that the scenario explained corresponded to the current area of ​​coast to the south of the Santa Clara Lighthouse, an already secular light of the homonymous parish that, due to a storm in December 1942 that had destroyed the port of Ponta Delgada, was transferred from Lisbon, of the Tower of Belém that, until then, had sheltered it.

After two decades of hurried reconstruction of everything that had been lost in the former capital, convinced by the administrative importance of his office of Juiz de Fora (unique in the Azores) and the port, Dom João III decreed Ponta Delgada as a city.

Equipped with the São Brás fort, the new capital of São Miguel was able to defend itself from pirate attacks.

He got used to receiving and serving the ships destined for India, in a logistical and commercial dynamic that attracted a considerable number of businessmen, their employees and servants.

And sailed an inexorable wave of bonanza and favourability.

The Fertility of the Lands of São Miguel and the Engenho dos Micaelenses

As with most of the island, the volcanic lands around it were fertile. They produced wheat, heather, vines, sweet potatoes, corn, yams, pastel, flax, oranges and even the precious sugar cane.

Oranges, in particular, became a product exported in huge quantities to the main foreign “customer” of the Azores, England.

Over time, the island's dedicated farmers secured highly profitable new crops, tobacco, swordfish, beetroot, chicory and, of course, tea and pineapple, both of which still hold a prominent place on São Miguel, merged with the most recent and profitable of all activities, tourism.

In 1861, following an intense demand to which Antero de Quental adhered with his famous article “Need for a Dock on the island of São Miguel”, the authorities started the work on the new artificial port of Ponta Delgada, which favored exports of all those products and more.

Cetaceans, Tourism and Evolution of Ponta Delgada, São Miguel

When, in recent decades, the rest of the world discovered and valued the so-called “European Hawaii”, the port of Ponta Delgada started to serve for the lightning incursions in which local operators take visitors to meet the cetaceans.

Of the abundant dolphins, whales and sperm whales that outsiders yearn to admire.

We also left there aboard a speedboat with powerful engines, at such a speed that we feared to run overboard.

We accompany groups of devilish dolphins and sperm whales that the people of São Miguel call by their own names.

With the summer already behind us, the whales were already traveling to other parts of the Atlantic.

We therefore anticipate the return to the calm waters of the port, to Baixa de São Pedro and to the Marina that forms the coastal border between the Historic Center and the modernized east of Ponta Delgada, with its hotels, parks and bathing areas that extend to the imminence of the Rosto de Cão Islet.

In full evolution and expansion of the XNUMXth century, despite its natural and rural environment, Ponta Delgada became the eighth largest Portuguese city.

In recent years, many of the continent's cities have surpassed it both in size and in number of inhabitants. It remains the largest Azorean city and the economic and administrative capital of the Azores.

Several opinions say that it became the true capital of the archipelago. It is an old insular dispute in which no continental should interfere.

Vale das Furnas, São Miguel

The Azorean Heat of Vale das Furnas

We were surprised, on the biggest island of the Azores, with a caldera cut by small farms, massive and deep to the point of sheltering two volcanoes, a huge lagoon and almost two thousand people from São Miguel. Few places in the archipelago are, at the same time, as grand and welcoming as the green and steaming Vale das Furnas.
São Miguel, Azores

São Miguel Island: Stunning Azores, By Nature

An immaculate biosphere that the Earth's entrails mold and soften is displayed, in São Miguel, in a panoramic format. São Miguel is the largest of the Portuguese islands. And it is a work of art of Nature and Man in the middle of the North Atlantic planted.
Pico Island, Azores

Pico Island: the Azores Volcano with the Atlantic at its Feet

By a mere volcanic whim, the youngest Azorean patch projects itself into the rock and lava apogee of Portuguese territory. The island of Pico is home to its highest and sharpest mountain. But not only. It is a testament to the resilience and ingenuity of the Azoreans who tamed this stunning island and surrounding ocean.
Santa Maria, Azores

Santa Maria: the Azores Mother Island

It was the first in the archipelago to emerge from the bottom of the sea, the first to be discovered, the first and only to receive Cristovão Colombo and a Concorde. These are some of the attributes that make Santa Maria special. When we visit it, we find many more.
Horta, Azores

The City that Gives the North to the Atlantic

The world community of sailors is well aware of the relief and happiness of seeing the Pico Mountain, and then Faial and the welcoming of Horta Bay and Peter Café Sport. The rejoicing does not stop there. In and around the city, there are white houses and a green and volcanic outpouring that dazzles those who have come so far.
Capelinhos Volcano, Faial, Azores

On the trail of the Capelinhos Mistery

From one coast of the island to the opposite one, through the mists, patches of pasture and forests typical of the Azores, we discover Faial and the Mystery of its most unpredictable volcano.
Graciosa, Azores

Her Grace the Graciosa

Finally, we will disembark in Graciosa, our ninth island in the Azores. Even if less dramatic and verdant than its neighbors, Graciosa preserves an Atlantic charm that is its own. Those who have the privilege of living it, take from this island of the central group an esteem that remains forever.
Corvo, Azores

The Unlikely Atlantic Shelter on Corvo Island

17 km2 of a volcano sunk in a verdant caldera. A solitary village based on a fajã. Four hundred and thirty souls snuggled by the smallness of their land and the glimpse of their neighbor Flowers. Welcome to the most fearless of the Azorean islands.
São Jorge, Azores

From Fajã to Fajã

In the Azores, strips of habitable land at the foot of large cliffs abound. No other island has as many fajãs as the more than 70 in the slender and elevated São Jorge. It was in them that the jorgenses settled. Their busy Atlantic lives rest on them.
Pico Island, Azores

The Island East of the Pico Mountain

As a rule, whoever arrives at Pico disembarks on its western side, with the volcano (2351m) blocking the view on the opposite side. Behind Pico Mountain, there is a whole long and dazzling “east” of the island that takes time to unravel.
Angra do Heroismo, Terceira , Azores

Heroina do Mar, from Noble People, Brave and Immortal City

Angra do Heroísmo is much more than the historic capital of the Azores, Terceira Island and, on two occasions, Portugal. 1500km from the mainland, it gained a leading role in Portuguese nationality and independence that few other cities can boast.
Castro Laboreiro, Portugal  

From Castro de Laboreiro to Raia da Serra Peneda - Gerês

We arrived at (i) the eminence of Galicia, at an altitude of 1000m and even more. Castro Laboreiro and the surrounding villages stand out against the granite monumentality of the mountains and the Planalto da Peneda and Laboreiro. As do its resilient people who, sometimes handed over to Brandas and sometimes to Inverneiras, still call these stunning places home.
Terceira Island, Azores

Terceira Island: Journey through a Unique Archipelago of the Azores

It was called the Island of Jesus Christ and has radiated, for a long time, the cult of the Holy Spirit. It houses Angra do Heroísmo, the oldest and most splendid city in the archipelago. These are just two examples. The attributes that make Terceira island unique are endless.
Flores Island, Azores

The Atlantic ends of the Azores and Portugal

Where, to the west, even on the map the Americas appear remote, the Ilha das Flores is home to the ultimate Azorean idyllic-dramatic domain and almost four thousand Florians surrendered to the dazzling end-of-the-world that welcomed them.
Sistelo, Peneda-Gerês, Portugal

From the "Little Portuguese Tibet" to the Corn Presidia

We leave the cliffs of Srª da Peneda, heading for Arcos de ValdeVez and the villages that an erroneous imaginary dubbed Little Portuguese Tibet. From these terraced villages, we pass by others famous for guarding, as golden and sacred treasures, the ears they harvest. Whimsical, the route reveals the resplendent nature and green fertility of these lands in Peneda-Gerês.
Campos do GerêsTerras de Bouro, Portugal

Through the Campos do Gerês and the Terras de Bouro

We continue on a long, zigzag tour through the domains of Peneda-Gerês and Bouro, inside and outside our only National Park. In this one of the most worshiped areas in the north of Portugal.
Montalegre, Portugal

Through Alto do Barroso, Top of Trás-os-Montes

we moved from Terras de Bouro for those of Barroso. Based in Montalegre, we wander around the discovery of Paredes do Rio, Tourém, Pitões das Júnias and its monastery, stunning villages on the border of Portugal. If it is true that Barroso has had more inhabitants, visitors should not miss it.
Porto Santo, Portugal

Praised Be the Island of Porto Santo

Discovered during a stormy sea tour, Porto Santo remains a providential shelter. Countless planes that the weather diverts from neighboring Madeira guarantee their landing there. As thousands of vacationers do every year, they surrender to the softness and immensity of the golden beach and the exuberance of the volcanic sceneries.
Pico do Arieiro - Pico Ruivo, Madeira, Portugal

Pico Arieiro to Pico Ruivo, Above a Sea of ​​Clouds

The journey begins with a resplendent dawn at 1818 m, high above the sea of ​​clouds that snuggles the Atlantic. This is followed by a winding, ups and downs walk that ends on the lush insular summit of Pico Ruivo, 1861 meters away.
Paul do Mar a Ponta do Pargo a Achadas da Cruz, Wood, Portugal

Discovering the Madeira Finisterre

Curve after curve, tunnel after tunnel, we arrive at the sunny and festive south of Paul do Mar. We get goosebumps with the descent to the vertiginous retreat of Achadas da Cruz. We ascend again and marvel at the final cape of Ponta do Pargo. All this, in the western reaches of Madeira.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beaches
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Duo of giraffes crossing paths above the savannah, with the Libombo Mountains in the background
safari
KaMsholo Bush Safaris, eSwatini

Among the Giraffes by KaMsholo and Co.

Located east of the Libombo mountain range, the natural border between eSwatini, Mozambique and South Africa, KaMsholo has 700 hectares of savannah dotted with acacia trees and a lake, habitats for a prolific fauna. Among other explorations and excursions, we interacted with the largest of species there.
Muktinath to Kagbeni, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Kagbeni
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit 14th - Muktinath to Kagbeni, Nepal

On the Other Side of the Pass

After the demanding crossing of Thorong La, we recover in the cozy village of Muktinath. The next morning we proceed back to lower altitudes. On the way to the ancient kingdom of Upper Mustang and the village of Kagbeni that serves as its gateway.
Luderitz, Namibia
Architecture & Design
Lüderitz, Namibia

Wilkommen in Africa

Chancellor Bismarck has always disdained overseas possessions. Against his will and all odds, in the middle of the Race for Africa, merchant Adolf Lüderitz forced Germany to take over an inhospitable corner of the continent. The homonymous city prospered and preserves one of the most eccentric heritages of the Germanic empire.
Totems, Botko Village, Malekula, Vanuatu
Aventura
Malekula, Vanuatu

Meat and Bone Cannibalism

Until the early XNUMXth century, man-eaters still feasted on the Vanuatu archipelago. In the village of Botko we find out why European settlers were so afraid of the island of Malekula.
shadow of success
Ceremonies and Festivities
Champoton, Mexico

Rodeo Under Sombreros

Champoton, in Campeche, hosts a fair honored by the Virgén de La Concepción. O rodeo Mexican under local sombreros reveals the elegance and skill of the region's cowboys.
Creepy Goddess Graffiti, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, USA, United States America
Cities
The Haight, San Francisco, USA

Orphans of the Summer of Love

Nonconformity and creativity are still present in the old Flower Power district. But almost 50 years later, the hippie generation has given way to a homeless, uncontrolled and even aggressive youth.
Fogón de Lola, great food, Costa Rica, Guápiles
Lunch time
Fogón de Lola Costa Rica

The Costa Rica Flavour of El Fogón de Lola

As the name suggests, the Fogón de Lola de Guapiles serves dishes prepared on the stove and in the oven, according to Costa Rican family tradition. In particular, Tia Lola's.
Horseback riding in shades of gold
Culture
El Calafate, Argentina

The New Gauchos of Patagonia

Around El Calafate, instead of the usual shepherds on horseback, we come across gauchos equestrian breeders and others who exhibit, to the delight of visitors, the traditional life of the golden pampas.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sport
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Kayaking on Lake Sinclair, Cradle Mountain - Lake Sinclair National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Traveling
Discovering tassie, Part 4 - Devonport to Strahan, Australia

Through the Tasmanian Wild West

If the almost antipode tazzie is already a australian world apart, what about its inhospitable western region. Between Devonport and Strahan, dense forests, elusive rivers and a rugged coastline beaten by an almost Antarctic Indian ocean generate enigma and respect.
Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, New Caledonia, Greater Calhau, South Pacific
Ethnic
Grande Terre, New Caledonia

South Pacific Great Boulder

James Cook thus named distant New Caledonia because it reminded him of his father's Scotland, whereas the French settlers were less romantic. Endowed with one of the largest nickel reserves in the world, they named Le Caillou the mother island of the archipelago. Not even its mining prevents it from being one of the most dazzling patches of Earth in Oceania.
portfolio, Got2Globe, Travel photography, images, best photographs, travel photos, world, Earth
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Portfolio Got2globe

The Best in the World – Got2Globe Portfolio

Kronstadt Russia Autumn, owner of the Bouquet
History
Kronstadt, Russia

The Autumn of the Russian Island-City of All Crossroads

Founded by Peter the Great, it became the port and naval base protecting Saint Petersburg and northern Greater Russia. In March 1921, it rebelled against the Bolsheviks it had supported during the October Revolution. In this October we're going through, Kronstadt is once again covered by the same exuberant yellow of uncertainty.
San Juan, Old Town, Puerto Rico, Reggaeton, Flag on Gate
Islands
San Juan, Puerto Rico (Part 2)

To the Rhythm of Reggaeton

Restless and inventive Puerto Ricans have made San Juan the reggaeton capital of the world. At the preferred beat of the nation, they filled their “Walled City” with other arts, color and life.
Horses under a snow, Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire
Winter White
Husavik a Myvatn, Iceland

Endless Snow on the Island of Fire

When, in mid-May, Iceland already enjoys some sun warmth but the cold and snow persist, the inhabitants give in to an intriguing summer anxiety.
José Saramago in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, Glorieta de Saramago
Literature
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

José Saramago's Basalt Raft

In 1993, frustrated by the Portuguese government's disregard for his work “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”, Saramago moved with his wife Pilar del Río to Lanzarote. Back on this somewhat extraterrestrial Canary Island, we visited his home. And the refuge from the portuguese censorship that haunted the writer.
PN Timanfaya, Mountains of Fire, Lanzarote, Caldera del Corazoncillo
Nature
PN Timanfaya, Lanzarote, Canary Islands

PN Timanfaya and the Fire Mountains of Lanzarote

Between 1730 and 1736, out of nowhere, dozens of volcanoes in Lanzarote erupted successively. The massive amount of lava they released buried several villages and forced almost half of the inhabitants to emigrate. The legacy of this cataclysm is the current Martian setting of the exuberant PN Timanfaya.
Girl plays with leaves on the shore of the Great Lake at Catherine Palace
Autumn
Saint Petersburg, Russia

Golden Days Before the Storm

Aside from the political and military events precipitated by Russia, from mid-September onwards, autumn takes over the country. In previous years, when visiting Saint Petersburg, we witnessed how the cultural and northern capital was covered in a resplendent yellow-orange. A dazzling light that hardly matches the political and military gloom that had spread in the meantime.
Glass Bottom Boats, Kabira Bay, Ishigaki
Natural Parks
Ishigaki, Japan

The Exotic Japanese Tropics

Ishigaki is one of the last islands in the stepping stone that stretches between Honshu and Taiwan. Ishigakijima is home to some of the most amazing beaches and coastal scenery in these parts of the Pacific Ocean. More and more Japanese who visit them enjoy them with little or no bathing.
Victoria Falls, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Zambezi
UNESCO World Heritage
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwee

Livingstone's Thundering Gift

The explorer was looking for a route to the Indian Ocean when natives led him to a jump of the Zambezi River. The falls he found were so majestic that he decided to name them in honor of his queen
now from above ladder, sorcerer of new zealand, Christchurch, new zealand
Characters
Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand's Cursed Wizard

Despite his notoriety in the antipodes, Ian Channell, the New Zealand sorcerer, failed to predict or prevent several earthquakes that struck Christchurch. At the age of 88, after 23 years of contract with the city, he made very controversial statements and ended up fired.
Baie d'Oro, Île des Pins, New Caledonia
Beaches
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

In 1964, Katsura Morimura delighted the Japan with a turquoise novel set in Ouvéa. But the neighboring Île-des-Pins has taken over the title "The Nearest Island to Paradise" and thrills its visitors.
Pilgrims at the top, Mount Sinai, Egypt
Religion
Mount Sinai, Egypt

Strength in the Legs, Faith in God

Moses received the Ten Commandments on the summit of Mount Sinai and revealed them to the people of Israel. Today, hundreds of pilgrims climb, every night, the 4000 steps of that painful but mystical ascent.
Train Kuranda train, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
On Rails
Cairns-Kuranda, Australia

Train to the Middle of the Jungle

Built out of Cairns to save miners isolated in the rainforest from starvation by flooding, the Kuranda Railway eventually became the livelihood of hundreds of alternative Aussies.
Singapore, Success and Monotony Island
Society
Singapore

The Island of Success and Monotony

Accustomed to planning and winning, Singapore seduces and recruits ambitious people from all over the world. At the same time, it seems to bore to death some of its most creative inhabitants.
the projectionist
Daily life
Sainte-Luce, Martinique

The Nostalgic Projectionist

From 1954 to 1983, Gérard Pierre screened many of the famous films arriving in Martinique. 30 years after the closing of the room in which he worked, it was still difficult for this nostalgic native to change his reel.
Gandoca Manzanillo Refuge, Bahia
Wildlife
Gandoca-Manzanillo (Wildlife Refuge), Costa Rica

The Caribbean Hideaway of Gandoca-Manzanillo

At the bottom of its southeastern coast, on the outskirts of Panama, the “Tica” nation protects a patch of jungle, swamps and the Caribbean Sea. As well as a providential wildlife refuge, Gandoca-Manzanillo is a stunning tropical Eden.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.