Surrounded by the cliffs of the Cabo Espichel area, Praia da Foz becomes a very sheltered place from the wind. Its unique beauty is a reward for those who visit this small beach.
With all the surrounding nature, you can count on good baths and great walks along the cliffs.
Between Praia da Foz and Cape St. Vincent you will find many small beaches some you can reach and can have a nice quite time and other ones are not reachable, because the Cliff coast. Here you can see a short Clip of the Cliff coast on our YouTube Channel.
Five kilometers from Sagres is the most southwestern point in Europe: Cape St. Vincent, the last piece of home that Portuguese sailors ever looked at when they set sail into the unknown.
Imagine yourself in a remote, wild and wind-swept landscape, with cliffs that make it a must-see for any ship traveling to the Mediterranean. Such is Cape St. Vincent. The jagged cliffs rise up to 60 meters from the brave seas. Far above is the guardhouse of the shipping lines, one of the brightest lighthouses in Europe. Its beams of light can be seen 60 miles away.
The physical grandeur of Cape St. Vincent and the fact that it is the most southwestern point in continental Europe have made this promontory sacred ground. The ancient Greeks called it the “Land of Serpents”, the pugnacious Romans strangely preferred the designation Promontorium Sacrum (“Holy Promontorium”), which would give rise to the name “Sagres”.
The name of the Cape derives from a Spanish priest who was martyred in the early 4th century. According to legend, his remains were brought or washed ashore at Promontorium Sacrum, the Sacred Cape, as it was known in ancient times.
To the citizens of Rome, Cape St. Vincent was the “End of the World,” a supernatural vortex where the setting sun was dramatically submerged by the immense and unknown ocean. The myth persisted throughout the Middle Ages until one man decided to put an end to all this crazy nonsense and thereby put an end to the Dark Ages: Prince Henry the Navigator, father of the Golden Age of Discovery in Portugal.
Today, the brightest spot on Cape St. Vincent is the Portuguese red lighthouse of São Vicente, built on the site of a 16th century Franciscan convent in 1846. The lighthouse has been successively enlarged and modernized, and now houses the Lighthouse Museum, showing Sagres’ role in Portugal’s maritime history. As one of the most powerful lighthouses in Europe and one of the busiest maritime routes in the world, Cape St. Vincent is one of our natural must-see stops during walking and cycling tours, as well as being the starting and finishing point for some of our walking and cycling tours in the Algarve and on the Rota Vicentina. The Cape is also an important flight path for birds migrating to and from Africa, as well as home to several species of hardy plants that can only be found there. São Vicente welcomes you to this wonderful experience. Sunset by the sea is included.
The Fortaleza de Sagres is located on the 1,000 meter long and 300 meter wide headland Ponta de Sagres. It is a national monument with great importance for the Portuguese.
In the 15th century Infant D. Henrique had a mighty fortress built, in which he died in 1460. Through Henry the Navigator, Sagres achieved world fame, because it is thanks to his work that the place played a unique role in the history of Portugal and will forever be associated with the Portuguese voyages of discovery.
Only a few buildings have been preserved from the original fortress construction, which has a fortification wall only on the land side, as high cliffs provided natural protection on the sea side.
Due to its strategic location on the Portuguese coast, the fortress can look back on a long and eventful history. In 1587, when King Philip II of Spain ruled Portugal, it was attacked and destroyed by the pirate Sir Francis Drake. An earthquake in 1755 ‘did’ the rest.
Within the fortress walls, the small church of Ingreja de Nossa Senhora da Graça still stands. It was built in the 16th century on the foundations of Henry the Navigator’s church, the Church of Santa Maria.
In 1928, a stone circle was discovered on the site of the fortress, the meaning of which remains unexplained to this day. A circle, 42 fields with a diameter of 43 meters – a wind rose? It could also be a sundial. Some speak of a wind compass
Fotos & Text: Rainer Georgius
Nature & Culture 
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