Ideally situated on the southern shoreline of São Miguel Island in the Azores, Vila Franca do Campo is a natural stopover for people en route between the capital Ponta Delgada and the thermal spa town of Furnas in the north-east.
The great earthquake of 1755 wasn’t exclusive to Lisbon. In fact, the epicentre was calculated to have been out in the Atlantic some 200 km south-west of the Algarve.
Set on a great granite escarpment with sweeping views across the vast plains of the Alentejo region, the walled village of Marvão is one of the prettiest places in the whole of southern Europe.