Santa Cruz da Graciosa - Graciosa Island

Santa Cruz da Graciosa is a Portuguese municipality in the Graciosa Island, in Azores.
The population of the municipality is 4,777 and its area is 60.7 km². It is divided into four parishes, and includes the entire island of Graciosa, which is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.


Today, Santa Cruz da Graciosa is a picturesque town that offers a nostalgic window to the past with its patched roads, white houses, and 500 year-old buildings. The town is also a great base for exploring the rest of the Graciosa Island and you’ll leave only after experiencing the inner sense of peace and tranquility that Santa Cruz is known for.

The historic town center of Santa Cruz da Graciosa is probably the focal point of the town. The center has two water reservoirs, originally used to water the cows in the area. The reservoirs are surrounded by Brazilian pines and elms that give Santa Cruz da Graciosa its natural look.


Around the town center, you’ll find a multitude of old historic buildings like the Santa Cruz Church, which was built in the 16th century and rebuilt in the 17th century. This church is a masterpiece of wood, tile, and old panels and stores antique Portuguese artwork that date back to the 17th century.

The Santo Cristo Church, Our Lady of Charity Church, and the São João, Cruz da Barra (Iron Cross) and São Salvador chapels are additional examples of Santa Cruz da Graciosa’s architectural patrimony.


The town is also home to the Ethnographic Museum. This museum contains items that are related to the wine culture of Graciosa Island as well as the town’s previously thriving whaling industry.

Outside of Santa Cruz da Graciosa, the mountain of Monte de Nossa Senhora da Ajuda is worth climbing as the peak provides a panoramic view of the town, the interior plains of Guadalupe, and the north side of Graciosa Island.

Before leaving to explore the other sites on Graciosa, be sure to sample the fine traditional cuisine of Graciosa at Santa Cruz’s quaint restaurants. Santa Cruz da Graciosa is famed for its fish dishes, featuring locally caught fish. The Caldeirada de Peixe and the Roasted Fish are two popular specialties. Off the coast of Santa Cruz da Graciosa are an abundance of shellfish, from crabs and lobsters to limpets, which are regularly cooked and served at the local restaurants. The town is also known for its delicious cupcakes, rice pastries, and sweet bread, including the Encharcados de Ovos and Massa Sovada.

Wine aficionados, moreover, will find it hard leaving Santa Cruz da Graciosa (or Graciosa Island for that matter). From the roots of the island’s vineyards come some of the best wines in the Azores. The white wines and aperitifs at Santa Cruz go very well with the seafood dishes served at its restaurants. You can also enjoy the old Aguardentes, a hard liquor distilled in old copper distilleries. The wine is more a dessert wine served best while sampling the town’s dessert specialties like cupcakes and sweet pastries.

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Graciosa Island - The white Island, History and Attractions

Graciosa Island, also known as White Island, is the northernmost of the Central Group of the Azores Islands. The island has an area of 60.84 km² in an oval form, with a length of 10 km and a width of 7 km. The entire island is a large stratovolcano which rises from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The southeastern end is dominated by a 1.6 km wide caldera, known as Caldeira.

The landscape of Graciosa enchants visitors with its tree-dotted round hills, vineyards that lie between stone walls, checkered fields of tilled land, whale-shaped rocky formations, sulphuric caverns, and bird-nested islets, which mixed with the white village houses and the onion-shaped dome windmills, provides for a truly idyllic experience.

Graciosa Island was likely first discovered in 1450 and settled by Vasco Gil Sodré, arriving from Terceira Island. Vasco Gil Sodré cleared much of the land and built a custom-house on the island, but the first captaincies of Graciosa were given instead to Pedro Correia da Cunha who married the sister of Christopher Columbus’ wife and Duarte de Barreto. In the ensuing centuries, Graciosa became an agricultural production center of wine and wheat, explaining the frequent corsair attacks it suffered during the 16th and 17th centuries.


Graciosa Island is full of natural gems. The sulphur caverns of Furna do Enxofre are probably the most unique and renowned of the island’s attractions. The caverns are a geological phenomenon not found anywhere else in the world. It was first visited by Prince Albert of Monaco, the famous oceanographer of the 19th century. At Furna do Enxofre, a deep tunnel of 100 meters is found in the interior of the crater of a former volcano. There is a huge grotto 80 meters high with stalactites and a cold underground lake of sulphurous water. The best time to visit the cavern is at noon when the sunlight reaches the interior producing a dazzling light show.

Besides Furna do Enxofre, there are other interesting but less spectacular caverns like the Manuel de Ávila, Furada, Linheiro, Bolos, Lembradeira, Calcinhas, Queimado, Labarda, Cardo, Gato, Castelo, Vermelho, Urze, Cão, and Luis. Hiring a guide and renting equipment is recommended for exploring any of these caves.

The Carapacho Hot Springs are a must as well; you’ll find spring baths that are rich in medicinal mineral waters and help treat skin and rheumatic ailments. Carapacho is located in the southern end of Graciosa Island and is a great fishing and swimming destination as well.


Bird-watching is also popular in Graciosa. The islets along the coast of the island like Praia and Baleia are habitats for numerous sea birds.

Hiking, peaceful walks, and picnicking on the island are particularly enjoyable as well. There are a number of hills that are covered with unique vegetation like beech-trees and Japanese cedars. These hills offer sweeping views of the island and sea. The Serra Dormida, Serra das Fontes, Serra Branca, Pico Timão, and Serra do Facho are just a few of these high peaks. While atop any of them, be sure to look out for the myriad picturesque windmills that Graciosa is so well-known for; many of the windmills are located atop the hills of Praia.

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