Sete Cidades Lake

The Sete Cidades Lake, situated in the wonderful São Miguel Island, is one of the most famous places in the Azores Archipelago, and once one there you’ll know why.
This is the biggest fresh-water lake in the Azores, situated in the volcanic craters that form the Island, constituted by two lagoons (the Green Lagoon and the Blue Lagoon) that form a wonderful scenery of great natural beauty, one of the symbolic images of the Archipelago, classified as Protected Landscape.

The Lagoon has a maximum profundity of 33 meters and a length of 4,2km, surrounded by greenish agricultural and wild fields, surrounded by beautiful rocky cliffs that offer an unique bucolic beautiful environment.
Associated to this beautiful sight are some legends, the most famous one is the “Blue Eye Princess Legend”.


The Blue Eye Princess Legend

In the place where nowadays is situated the beautiful small village of Sete Ciddades, once was a kingdom where the lovely blue eye Princess Antília lived. One day, on a stroll by the wonderful greenish fields of the region, the Princess falls in love by a green eye shepherd that played a flute and walked its flock of sheep. Days passed and in all of them the beloved yougsters met under the same old tree where they met, every time falling more and more in love.
The King, who desired his daughter married to a Prince from a neighbour kingdom, discovers their love and soon forbids it. Desperate, the Princess Antília begs for a last encounter, which happened in the usual place.
As both the Princess and the Shepherd talked about their forbidden love, they cried and cried, in such despondency that from the tears they dropped two lagoon were formed: from the blue eyes of the Princess the Blue Lagoon, from the green Shepherd’s eyes the Green Lagoon were formed. Hence, the lovers were sent apart, yet their tears forever got side by side, in the Sete Cidades Lake.