STOP 6: BURATO DO INFERNO (self-guided route The Names of the Island)

If you prefer, you can download the complete self-guided route leaflet in PDF format HERE.

The entrance to hell was once home to seabirds.

The name Burato do Inferno (“Hole to Hell”) offers clues not only about the legends linked to this place, but also about the island’s fauna and geology.

Sea and wind erosion carved out a granite cave—known locally as a furna—and eventually caused its roof to collapse, leaving behind this hole that reaches 40 meters deep and connects to the cave’s mouth at sea level. The dramatic formation earned its name from the belief that it was an entrance to hell, where the cries of tormented souls could be heard.

In truth, those cries came from seabirds nesting inside the furna. The cliffs of the islands are home to thousands of seabirds, and in the past, guillemots (Uria aalge) nested here too—a species now extinct in Iberia. It was their eerie calls from within the cave that gave this place its hellish name.