Tuesday 22nd April 2025
Today, we visited the extreme south western point of Portugal, Sagres Fortress, which is also billed as “The start of Europe”, but before that, we went to the more western point of Cabo de São Vicente and its Lighthouse. Effectively, these two points make up the “Lands End” of Portugal.
Farol do Cabo de São Vicente:
This part of the Portugese coastline is rugged and beautiful. It features tall vertical cliffs and as with the rest of the Algarve, there are also sandy coves which attract holidaymakers.
The cliffs are seriously tall. You can just make out people walking along the cliff-top path in the image below right:
The Farol do Cabo de São Vicente forms an iconic view which appears on many postcards. I think that at another time of year, you might be able to visit the lighthouse itself, but when we were there, it was closed for visitors.
When we returned to Fufu, she appeared to have gained a couple of new friends:
We also visited an old castle which was on the coast a few hundred metres away.
The gates were locked, but we managed to have a peer through:
Fortaleza de Sagres:
This fortress is built at the south-westerly most point of the Portugese mainland. The fortress entrance completely seals off access to the headland, which is built, in part, like a “star-fortress” similar to those we have seen earlier.
The headland it encloses, is quite a large area of land, with several buildings, including an exhibition centre, a church (closed for refurbishment), a lighthouse and an large, circular-walled art-installation, named “A Voz do Mar”.
The Exhibition Centre housed several historical displays, including one about Saint Vincent, another about the slave trade, and the original castle outer gate:
There is also a “Compass Rose” which is considered a historical landmark, but it was a little overgrown when we visited.
The fortifications from inside the fortress:
After our visit to Portugal’s “Lands End” we headed north and are spending the night on a small motorhome park-up in a village called Odeceixe. Good facilities and an electric hook-up for 12 € a night. That is it for now. See u Later. TTFN.
"See-u-Later" 