VIEILLE VILLE

Around the square, where you can take pleasure in linger to admire the magnificent metrosideros or “trees of velvet”, you can see several remarkable buildings: it is difficult not to notice the exuberant facade of the church Do Espírito Santo (also called C Senhor dos Passos, because it contains an image of Christ carrying the cross, Senhor da Via Sacra, run up during a procession second Sunday of Lent), temple of the brotherhood of Mercy (17th century), certainly one of the most impressive and most beautiful examples of from the Azores baroque. The interior is very simple contrast. The town hall is a fine example of civil architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially the external staircase and the belfry. It contains a collection of portraits of the Heads of State, Dona Maria II to the present day. On the adjacent building, note the superb gemeled manueline window 16th century. You can also admire a bridge with eight arches of the 18th century.