Vila Franca Islet, São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal Jun 13, 2025

Vila Franca Islet, São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal

Not far from São Miguel Island in the Azores archipelago of Portugal, you"ll find Vila Franca Islet. This uninhabited green islet sits quietly just south of the town of Vila Franca do Campo. Beneath its serene surface, this gem holds a lively past. First documented in 1537, around the time when settlers from São Miguel began expanding westward, Vila Franca Islet has played many roles throughout its history. It has served as a military fort, a port, a vineyard site, and even a lookout for whale-watching.

© ARoxo/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Jun 13, 2019A unique elephant encounter in Nantes
Jun 13, 2020A gorge-ous mill in the Causses
Jun 13, 2021Bear watching in the Finnish forest
Jun 13, 2022Okavango Delta, Botswana
Jun 13, 2023Okefenokee Swamp
Jun 13, 2024Registan Square, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 1, 2020A lunar lantern celebration
Dec 8, 2020A fortress in the sky
Sep 16, 2023Oktoberfest begins
Sep 15, 2021It s National Hispanic Heritage Month
May 2, 2019Making it work—in Norway
Oct 15, 2019The globe skimmers return
May 6, 2018A wetland in Västmanland, Sweden
May 7, 2020Where the wildflowers grow
Jan 10, 2024Take the Stairs Day
Dec 27, 2019 Winterpret on ice
Feb 19, 2023Humpback whales in Maui, Hawaii
Jul 15, 2019Marine Day in Japan
Apr 2, 2023Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia
Nov 10, 202547 years of Badlands National Park
Aug 22, 2025Rolling hills of the Palouse, Washington
Apr 29, 2019New beginnings
Apr 28, 2021Coming home to roost
Apr 22, 202050 years of Earth Day
Mar 11, 2019You re feeling sleepy
Jun 7, 2022Haaga Rhododendron Park
Dec 25, 2019Merry and bright
Oct 10, 2020Birds of a feather
May 5, 2019Celebrating Mexico in a Cultural Capital
Nov 28, 2025Celebrating Native American Heritage Day
Aug 5, 2023Atlantic puffin, Iceland
Jul 9, 2020High alpine color in Colorado
Dec 29, 2019Helloooooo, Innsbruck
Feb 13, 2021Four little birds sitting in a tree…
Jul 17, 2024Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bavaria, Germany
Aug 30, 2018Castle Frankenstein in Darmstadt, Germany