THE ROMANTIC IDYLL

SAO MIGUEL, THE AZORES

It was meant to be a work trip, but it turned out to be so much more. The Azores (the Portuguese volcanic islands in the Atlantic) was where it all started for Gus and me. We were good friends, but on the Azores we took it a step further. We’d been given a photography assignment by Gus’s dad, who ran a travel agency, and we flew to Ponta Delgada, the capital of São Miguel, the largest island of the archipelago.

We had so much fun discovering this beautiful part of the world and instantly fell in love with it. São Miguel is such a magical place: a surreal mix of tropical banana trees on French-like fields; herds of black-and-white cows under broad-leafed trees; misty, volcanic hills with vast crater lakes; natural, rust-coloured hot springs; and the botanical garden leading down to the sea.

The island had an instant impact on us. After we’d finished shooting, we took some time off to explore. One afternoon, we were at the beach of Água de Alto, on the south coast. We went for a swim in the ice-cold Atlantic as the sky started turning grey with heavy rain clouds. But we didn’t care, as that was the moment we became a couple.

That was September 2007 and, 11 years later, we are still happily together and dream of going back to these magical islands. We’ve done lots of trips together since, but none will be as special as the Azores.