Câmara de Lobos (baía)

The fishing bay immortalised by Winston Churchill, who set up his easel here in January 1950 at the Espírito Santo viewpoint; seventy years on, the charm of this small cove has hardly changed. The first place inhabited by João Gonçalves Zarco between 1420 and 1424, the island's first settlement raised to a parish in 1430, the town owes its name to the monk seals ("lobos-marinhos") that lived in the cove. Colourful boats, the "xavelhas", lanes of bars, shops and restaurants, the Nossa Senhora da Conceição chapel (15th century), the former São Bernardino convent (1425), the São Sebastião church (16th); about 35,000 inhabitants in the municipality, poncha and fresh fish to taste. Cabo Girão and the Curral das Freiras valley are close by.