Vila do Porto and Anjos: Santa Maria's old town, its churches and the Columbus chapel

Most people who land on Santa Maria drive straight past Vila do Porto on their way to a beach. Give it a morning first. The town is the oldest in the Azores, its main street holds five centuries of churches and pirate raids within a short walk, and the chapel at Anjos on the north coast is where Columbus's sailors came ashore in 1493 and were arrested. This guide puts the sights in walking order and says which ones you can actually go inside.

Santa Maria was the first Azorean island to be settled. Gonçalo Velho arrived as captain in 1439 with the first colonists, their families and cattle, and by 1470 the settlement around the anchorage on the south coast held the title of vila. That makes Vila do Porto the first municipality in the archipelago.

Being first also made it the easiest target. French corsairs sacked the town in 1576, English ones attacked in 1599, and in 1616 a raiding force from the Algiers coast burned churches, houses and public buildings and carried off many of the people. The church and the convent on the walk below were both rebuilt after these raids, which is why the dates on a single building can span three centuries.

The town runs along one long street from the fort on the cliff to the top of the village. Walk it downhill and finish at the fort, which has the view.

Start at the former Franciscan convent by the municipal garden. Building began in 1607, the raiders of 1616 sacked it, and it was sacked again in 1675 before a rebuild in 1725 and extensions in 1808 and 1822. The municipal offices have been here since 1970. The bell tower is also the entrance to the Church of Nossa Senhora da Vitória beside it.

Further along stands the parish church, one of the oldest in the archipelago, built in the 15th and 16th centuries with three naves. It is the building that took every raid: destroyed by the French in 1576, attacked by the English in 1599, set on fire in 1616 and burned again in 1832. The clock in the tower dates from 1946, when the tower was raised by 5 metres to take it. The church is often locked outside Mass, so time a visit for a service if you want the interior.

At the bottom, on the Alto da Rocha above the harbour, the 17th-century fort was built to protect the anchorage from pirates and privateers. Nine of its old guns are still on the walls. A stone monument in the middle of the terrace remembers the crew of the minesweeper Augusto de Castilho, sunk in 1918. The restored building is now the headquarters of the island's motorcycle club, so there is no museum inside. The ramparts and the view over the harbour, best late in the afternoon, are why you come.

If the geology interests you as much as the history, the House of Fossils is also in town and makes a natural first stop before the quarry at Pedreira do Campo.

Anjos is a small village on the north coast, across the island from Vila do Porto. Its whitewashed chapel, the Ermida de Nossa Senhora dos Anjos, is probably the first Christian church built in the Azores. The first chapel dates from the 15th century. It was remodelled in the 17th century, rebuilt in 1893, and listed as a building of public interest in 2001.

The Columbus connection is real, though less heroic than the statue in the village suggests. Returning from his first voyage, Columbus and his crew on the Niña were caught in a storm on 14 February 1493 and vowed to make pilgrimages if they survived it. At Santa Maria, in the bay of Anjos, half the crew went ashore barefoot and in their shirts to keep that vow at a chapel. The acting captain of the island, João da Castanheira, had them arrested, and they were let go only after negotiation. Local tradition holds that this chapel is the one they walked to.

Inside are 17th-century tiles with birds and branches, a 15th-century image of the Virgin, a 16th-century triptych painted on cedar, and a whip said to have been left by raiders in one of the attacks on the island. The chapel is often locked outside services, so treat the interior as a bonus; the porch and the setting above the harbour are worth the drive anyway.

Below the chapel is the Anjos sea pool, beside the fishing harbour. It had lifeguards from 12 June to 13 September in 2026. A northerly swell closes it, so check the sea before you plan a swim here.

If you have a car, add Santo Espírito in the east of the island. Its parish church, Nossa Senhora da Purificação, dates from the 16th century and was enlarged in the 18th, with a baroque front in dark basalt and white render. The outside of the bell-tower dome is covered in fragments of old tiles. It has been listed as a building of public interest since 1957.

Next door, the Museu de Santa Maria fills an early 20th-century farmhouse with island furniture and household objects. In 2026 it opened Tuesday to Sunday and on holidays, from 9:30 to 17:00 between 1 October and 31 March and from 10:00 to 17:30 from April to September, closed on Mondays. Hours change, so check before you drive out.

Vila do Porto is walkable, and the main street needs no transport. For Anjos and Santo Espírito you need a car or a taxi for most of the year. In summer 2026 the beach bus, route 5, ran every day from 1 July to 15 September, leaving Praia Formosa at 10:30, 14:00 and 18:30 and reaching Anjos about 40 minutes later via Vila do Porto and the airport. You can also walk in: the PR01SMA Costa Norte trail, 8.4 km and about four hours from Bananeiras, ends at the chapel.

• Morning: the main street of Vila do Porto, convent to fort.
• Lunch in town.
• Afternoon: drive to Anjos for the chapel, the statue and, in summer, a swim in the pool.
• With a second half day: Santo Espírito for the church and the museum, then on to the east coast.

Is Vila do Porto the oldest town in the Azores? Yes. Santa Maria was settled from 1439 and Vila do Porto held its town charter by 1470, the first in the archipelago.

Did Columbus visit Santa Maria? His ship anchored in the bay of Anjos in February 1493 on the way back from his first voyage. Half his crew went ashore to pray at a chapel and were arrested by the island's captain, then released.

Can you go inside the Anjos chapel? Often not. It tends to be locked outside services, but the exterior, the porch and the view of the harbour are open at any time.

Is the Forte de São Brás a museum? No. The building is a motorcycle club's headquarters. You can walk the ramparts, see the old guns and the 1918 memorial, and watch the harbour below.