Sines, on the Alentejo coast, is a town with two faces: on one side one of Portugal's main ports, with container terminals and a large industrial and energy complex; on the other an old centre overlooking a fine bay, tied to the name of Vasco da Gama, who was born here around 1469.
The castle and Vasco da Gama
The old centre is gathered around the fifteenth-century castle, where tradition says the navigator who reached India by sea in 1498 was born: the keep and castle buildings house a museum devoted to him and to the town's history. Nearby are the mother church of São Salvador and a viewpoint over the bay. The Centro de Artes de Sines, a building of contemporary architecture, houses a library, exhibitions and performances.
The Músicas do Mundo festival
Every year at the end of July, Sines and Porto Covo host the FMM, Festival Músicas do Mundo, one of Europe's leading world music festivals, with concerts in the castle and on the beach by African, Asian, Latin American and European artists. It is one of the best times to visit.
Beaches and Porto Covo
The bay of Sines has Praia Vasco da Gama, in front of the centre. Further south, the long beach of São Torpes is popular with surfers and has water less cold than usual, warmed by the outflow of the former power station. About twenty kilometres away, in the same municipality, the village of Porto Covo is a gem: white houses trimmed in blue around a square, small coves among the rocks and, nearby, Ilha do Pessegueiro, an islet with the remains of a fort, facing another seventeenth-century fort on the mainland. The Rota Vicentina Fishermen's Trail starts here towards Vila Nova de Milfontes.
Getting there
Sines is about an hour and a half by car from Lisbon via the A2 motorway and the IP8, or by bus. Further north is Comporta.