Espargos: the salt crater of Sal

Inside an extinct volcanic crater, Pedra de Lume preserves salt pools exploited since the nineteenth century, where today one can immerse and float like in the Dead Sea thanks to the very high salt concentration.

Along the nearby coast, at Buracona, a natural hole in the rock lets sunlight through creating an intense blue reflection on the water, especially visible in late morning.

Crossing the island's interior, one reaches the Viana Desert, a flat and sandy expanse that has served as a setting for various film productions set in the Sahara.

Toward evening, the long beach of Santa Maria, at the island's southern tip, remains the best spot for a swim before dinner.

The constant wind that makes Santa Maria one of the Atlantic's most renowned windsurfing and kitesurfing destinations is the same wind that, centuries ago, pushed early settlers to exploit the Pedra de Lume salt ponds on an industrial scale.

At Buracona, the right light lasts only minutes: arriving even half an hour too late, you find the same rock, but without the blue reflection that makes the place famous.