Sagres lies at the south-western tip of Portugal and of continental Europe, where the Algarve's southern coast meets the Atlantic coast. A few kilometres from the village, Cabo de São Vicente (Cape St Vincent) is the continent's south-west corner: once considered the end of the known world, it still has a magical atmosphere, with sheer cliffs dozens of metres high, wind and ocean. The village, with about 2,000 inhabitants and part of the municipality of Vila do Bispo, is small but lively, popular with surfers, walkers and travellers in search of wild nature.
Henry the Navigator
The story of Sagres is bound up with Prince Henry the Navigator (in Portuguese Infante Dom Henrique, 1394-1460), son of King John I and a member of the Avis dynasty. Despite his nickname, he never took part in the voyages of exploration himself, but he was their great promoter and financier: governor of the Order of Christ and lord of the Algarve, he gathered navigators, cartographers and astronomers around him, encouraged the development of the caravel and organised expeditions along the African coast. He lived for long periods in this area, in the "Vila do Infante" he had built on the headland, and died here in 1460.
For centuries people spoke of a "school of Sagres", a sort of nautical academy founded by the prince: historians now believe that no such building ever existed and that it was rather a milieu, a circle of experts and ideas that laid the foundations of the Portuguese discoveries. Among the ventures launched under his impulse was that of Gil Eanes, from Lagos, who in 1434 rounded Cape Bojador, until then considered impassable, opening the way that in 1488 led Bartolomeu Dias to round the Cape of Good Hope and in 1498 Vasco da Gama to reach India.
The fortress and the Rosa dos Ventos
On Ponta de Sagres, a rocky plateau jutting into the ocean, stands the Fortaleza de Sagres, whose present walls date largely from the eighteenth century, built where the prince's citadel once stood. Inside are the small sixteenth-century church of Nossa Senhora da Graça and the great Rosa dos Ventos, a circle of stones about 43 metres across laid out on the ground, whose origin and purpose are still debated. A path runs around the edge of the headland, past dizzying cliffs, rod fishermen and ocean views.
Cape St Vincent
About 6 kilometres away is Cabo de São Vicente, with its lighthouse, one of the most powerful in Europe, and a small museum on the history of navigation and lighthouses. The name recalls the martyr Saint Vincent, whose relics, according to legend, arrived here on a boat escorted by ravens. At sunset the cape fills with visitors: watching the sun sink into the ocean from the cliffs is one of the finest sights in Portugal. Along the road is the Fortaleza do Beliche, a small seventeenth-century fort.
The beaches
Around Sagres there are some twenty beaches, from coves to long stretches of sand, many exposed to Atlantic waves and loved by surfers. On the south coast are wide, sheltered Martinhal, Mareta, below the village, and further east Zavial, Ingrina and Salema. On the Atlantic side are Tonel and Beliche, excellent for surfing, and further north the wild beaches of Castelejo, Cordoama and Bordeira, near Carrapateira. The whole west coast is part of the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, crossed by the trails of the Rota Vicentina, ideal for hiking.
Surroundings
Vila do Bispo, the municipal seat, is a quiet village with an azulejo-decorated church and good fish and seafood restaurants, including the famous percebes, goose barnacles gathered from the rocks. Around it are many prehistoric menhirs. In the village of Raposeira you can visit the Ermida de Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, a small Gothic church from the thirteenth or fourteenth century that by tradition was dear to Prince Henry. To the east, Lagos and Ponta da Piedade are easy to reach.
Tips
Sagres is reached by car from Lagos along the N125 or by bus. Even in summer the wind and ocean can make evenings cool: bring a jacket for sunset at the cape. The single emergency number is 112.