A volcanic vista

The Azores are a walker's paradise. Hiking trails crisscross much of the landscape on the nine islands in the archipelago, a far-flung autonomous region of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean. Because the Azores are the peaks of vast mountains straddling active tectonic plates, the topography here is a dazzling mix of volcanic forms. On São Miguel Island, caldera lakes gleam below the jagged green cones of ancient volcanos. Hot springs and mud pots hiss and bubble in the island’s Furnas Valley. And hikers taking the trail around the Sete Cidades caldera are treated to jaw-dropping vistas like the one we see in our image.