This legend is very well known in Portugal, as it is about one of the most beautiful lakes in the country, located in the Azores. It is a beautiful love story that I believe will touch your hearts.
Legend has it that many, many years ago, a kind young Princess with bright blue eyes lived in a great kingdom, in the place where the village of Sete Cidades exists today.
The Princess loved her life in the countryside and one of her favorite things that she loved to do was to walk through the fields, smelling the flowers, dipping her feet in the stream or simply admiring the beauty of the mountains and valleys that surrounded the kingdom.
One day along her walk, the young Princess saw a herd of sheep grazing in a meadow. Nearby watching the herd was a lovely green-eyed Shepherd and the Princess decided to talk to him.
The Princess and the Shepherd talked for a long time – about the animals, the flowers and the weather. From this moment on, they met every day to talk to each other.
As the days and weeks went by, the princess and the shepherd met every day in the very same spot that they first met. As time passed, they fell in love and they promised each other their eternal love.
When the King heard that the Princess had been meeting with the Shepherd, he was not pleased. The King wanted for his daughter to marry a Prince from one of the neighboring kingdoms and so he forbade her from seeing the Shepherd again.
Out of respect for her father, the Princess accepted this cruel decision but she pleaded with him to allow them to meet one last time so that she could say goodbye. Touched by her plea, the King agreed.
The Princess and the Shepherd met one last time, in the green fields where they first met. Once again they talked and talked, not only of their love but of their parting as well.
As they talked, they cried. They cried so much that the tears shed from the Princess’s blue eyes streamed down the valley and formed a blue lagoon. The tears which poured from the Shepherd’s green eyes formed a green lagoon.
At last the couple said their goodbyes and the tears which they cried formed two lagoons that would remain together forever- just like the Princess and the Shepherd who could never be together but would never part.
They are called the ‘Lakes of Sete Cidades’. On bright, sunny days the colors of the lagoons are so intense, that you can almost imagine the passionate way that the young Shepherd looked at his Princess…