The town of Ribeira Grande, renamed Cidade Vel­ha in the late 18th cen­tu­ry, was the first Euro­pean colo­nial out­post in the trop­ics. Locat­ed in the south of the island of San­ti­a­go, the town fea­tures some of the orig­i­nal street lay­out impres­sive remains includ­ing two church­es, a roy­al fortress and Pil­lo­ry Square with its ornate 16th cen­tu­ry mar­ble pil­lar.