Ponta Delgada, capital of the autonomous region of the Azores and the chief town and port of the whole archipelago, is at sea level, has a population of 29,000 and lies in a wide bay on the south coast of the island of Sao Miguel. West of the town is one of the two international airports in the Azores. The pride of Ponta Delgada is its small university, opened in 1975 and boasting about a thousand graduates to date.
Townscape
The town is built on gently rising ground between green hills, and with its many churches, its trim white houses and the lush gardens on its outskirts presents an attractive spectacle to visitors arriving by sea.
Big festival on the island, when those who still live there and those who have left celebrate together; religious celebrations, sporting contests, lengthy festival program.
The harbor, which mainly handles fruit and vegetables, is protected by a breakwater 1,544m/1,690yd long, from which there are fine views. At the landward end of the breakwater is Fort Sao Braz (1553), behind which stands a former Franciscan convent (now a hospital), with the beautifully decorated church of Sao José (15th-18th C.).
From Largo da Matriz, Rua Guilherme Poças leads to the Igreja do Colégio (1592), built for the Jesuits (who were expelled in 1759). The church has a sumptuous Baroque doorway and a magnificent Baroque altar.
On the outskirts of the town are a number of attractive gardens and parks, some of them privately owned (viewing by request), including the municipal park, formerly the Jardim António Borges (wild-life enclosure).
In the middle of town there are three linked squares. The second square is the Praça da República, with a statue of St Michael (Sao Miguel) in front of the Paço do Concelho (Town Hall, 17th-18th C.);
In the middle of town there are three linked squares. The first of these, as one comes from the harbor by way of the triple-arched Town Gate (1783), is the Praça de Gonçalo Velho, with a monument to Gonçalo Velho Cabral, discoverer and first governor of the Azores.
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Ponta Delgada
