The FCO has lifted its travel warning for trips to the Azores, making this overlooked archipelago an offbeat option for summer

Europe is the forgotten continent of intrepid travel. South America, Africa, Asia – each is seen as being wrapped in a cloak of adventure that our home continent cannot match. And yet the idea of Europe being a known concept falls away when you journey to its western edge. No, not Ireland but those Atlantic mysteries, the Azores.

From 900 to 1,200 miles (1,400-2,000km) west of the Iberian Peninsula, the Azores have long been “hidden”. Though rather closer to home than the gold slivers of the Caribbean, they were overlooked until the 14th century and uninhabited until the 15th century, claimed by Portuguese settlers in 1432, only 60 years before Columbus stumbled on the New World.

In some ways, the islands have developed little since. Even now they lack the mass-tourism hot spots of the Canary Islands. But they share something crucial with their Atlantic siblings. They are visibly volcanic, born of tectonic frustration at the point where three continental plates – the Eurasian, the African and the North American – meet.

They are, effectively, the Hawaii of the Atlantic, lost in deep seas; steep-sided, beautiful, wild. This is not to say the weather matches the glow of Pacific America – cloud and rain dog the Azores as much as sunshine. But such climactic inconstancy only adds to the aesthetic. Every day is different.