Velas on São Jorge: a walk through town, from the Portão do Mar to Morro Grande

Most people meet Velas twice: when the ferry ties up, and when they come back to catch it. In between they are out on the fajãs. That is a fair plan, but the town is worth a morning or an afternoon of its own, especially on a day when cloud sits on the ridge and the north coast is out. Velas is small, the main sights are a few streets apart, and the one climb, up Morro Grande behind the town, looks down on the town and across the channel to Pico.

Below is the walk from the harbour, stop by stop, with what to skip if you are short of time.

Start at the harbour, where the Portão do Mar, the sea gate, stands at the head of the quay. It is a single stone arch set in a white wall, with a crown and the royal coat of arms above it and the year 1799 cut underneath. A tiled map of the island inside the arch greets you with "Bemvindo a Jorge".

The gate is what is left of the walls that once closed off the town's seafront. Fortifying Velas was proposed in 1618 by Marcos Fernandes de Teive, an officer sent by the crown to plan defences across the islands. The island's historian Cândido Avelar, writing in 1902, said the coast had been walled with gates and only the one at the quay survived, finished in 1797 by the master mason Matias Avelar. So the carving says 1799 and the history says 1797; either way it is late eighteenth century. Look along the waterfront and you will still see stretches of the old wall in the same white-plastered stone.

Velas had reason to build walls. By 1575 there were already two forts, Santa Cruz and Conceição, and their guns crossed fire over the harbour and the town gate. In 1708 the French corsair René Duguay-Trouin attacked. The two forts drove his ships off from the port, so he landed further along the coast instead. A third fort, Nossa Senhora do Pilar, was built afterwards on that stretch of shore; Avelar wrote that its guardhouse sat on a natural rock arch.

Do not expect ramparts. By 1862 only Santa Cruz and Conceição were still counted as defences, and today the municipality's own history describes Conceição as the only one in even minimally preserved condition. What you can still see along the seafront are stretches of wall.

The main square was the market until the council started turning it into a garden in 1836. The land had been a walled orange orchard with a tall house, given by João Soares de Albergaria de Sousa, a liberal president of the council. A huge araucaria grew there until 1898, when it was cut down and a bandstand put up in its place. The bandstand you see now is a replica of that one. Lights came in 1899, and the flowerbeds, walls and railings date from the early twentieth century.

Facing the garden is the Paços do Concelho, the town hall, built between 1719 and 1744 by Manuel Avelar, from one of the wealthiest families on the island. Look at the main door: two twisted Solomonic columns frame it, and the Portuguese arms above the façade are carved in black basalt. Before it was the town hall it held the court, and the right-hand side was an eighteenth-century jail for women. The building has been classified as a property of public interest since 1984.

The parish church of São Jorge stands on Largo Dr. João Pereira, on the site of a church that was already mentioned in the will of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1460. The present building went up from 1664 to designs by Francisco Rodrigues and was blessed in February 1675.

Inside there are three aisles and two stone pulpits with their own stairs. The gilded altarpiece in the main chapel is said to have been a gift from King Sebastião. Up in the choir is a pipe organ built in 1865 by Tomé Gregório de Lacerda, and the stained glass is modern, with island themes. We found no published opening hours, so look in if the door is open and do not plan the day around getting in.

If you are on the island on 23 April, this is where the feast of São Jorge starts. It is a municipal holiday in Velas, with a procession through the streets.

Walk on to Rua do Livramento, where a small chapel sits at the foot of Morro Grande. The Ermida de Nossa Senhora do Livramento was built in 1697 and blessed in 1700. Its front is dark basalt with carved stone around the door and window, and a basalt cross on top. The story told in town is that a herdsman found an image of the Virgin in the woods here and carried it to the Matriz, and it kept turning up back in the woods until people built it a chapel with its back to the hill, facing the town it was meant to protect. The name and the yearly feast go back to 1861.

The path up Morro Grande starts beside the chapel. It is not one of the island's official trails, so there are no waymarks, no leaflet and nobody maintaining it. Walkers who have written it up describe a loop of about 4 kilometres with roughly 350 metres of climb, steep at first, taking an hour or two. The footing is loose and there are drops at the top with nothing between you and the edge. Go in dry weather, wear proper shoes, and turn back if cloud comes down. From the rim you look down on Velas and across the channel to Pico. It is a good place to be at sunset, as long as you leave enough light for the way down.

Morro Grande is a volcanic cone, and the easiest way to see what that means is from the Miradouro do Canavial on the regional road out of Velas. It sits between Morro Grande and Morro de Lemos. Both were made by eruptions under the sea, at different times. Morro de Lemos is the older one and the waves have worn most of it away. Morro Grande still has a round cone and crater, with a second, smaller cone inside it from a later eruption. In the cliff faces you can see the layers of ash and lava. The Azores Geopark lists it among its main geosites. Velas itself is built on lava that flowed from Pico dos Loiros.

The town part, from the Portão do Mar through the garden and the Matriz to the Ermida do Livramento, is an easy hour or two at a slow pace with stops. Add one to two hours for Morro Grande. If you want a swim at the end, the Poça dos Frades natural pool is below the Avenida da Conceição, a few minutes from the ferry berth; in 2026 its bathing season ran from 15 June to 15 September, with no lifeguard cover listed.

If you only have the gap between two ferries, do the Portão do Mar, the garden and the town hall, and leave Morro Grande for a day with time to spare.

Is Velas worth a visit, or should I just pass through? Give it at least a couple of hours. The sea gate, the garden, the town hall and the parish church are a few streets apart, and Morro Grande behind the town gives you the view across to Pico.

Is the Morro Grande hike marked? No. It is an unofficial path starting beside the Ermida do Livramento, about 4 km and around 350 m of climb. Steep, loose in places and exposed at the top, so only in dry weather.

What does the date on the Portão do Mar mean? The gate carries 1799 under the royal arms. The island's 1902 history says it was finished in 1797. It is the one surviving gate of the old town walls.

When is the town's big festival? São Jorge's day, 23 April, is a municipal holiday in Velas, with a procession through the streets.