The Azores – the name supposedly has its origins in the word “hawk” or “blue” – is an archipelago of 10 main islands, situated in the eastern Atlantic, roughly 1,300km (800 miles) west of this autonomous region’s mother country, Portugal.
Entirely surrounded by sea, and with the ameliorating influence of the Gulf Stream, the islands have a very mild, at times subtropical, climate. There are few extremes of temperature and moderate rainfall, especially in the autumn and winter months, totalling about 1,200mm (48in) annually.
