Many people come to this part of Portugal mainly to see the sites at Sagres. We are no different; so, one day, we catch the bus from Lagos to Sagres. Outwards, it takes about an hour.
On the road to Sagres, we pass by a simple church. It looks plain and unprepossessing on the outside. But you never know with churches in this area. They may be filled with treasures beyond the imagination. I never find out what this particular church is called.
Our bus goes by Sagres Bay, located on the southwestern tip of Portugal’s Algarve region, before depositing us at the end of a road surrounded by cliffs.
This is literally the end of the road. From Sagres to Talon, Russia is the furthest that one can drive without ferries or trains. It’s over 9,400 miles long and takes about 200 hours to drive…not including rest stops.
A bike sculpture and a sign showing “0.0 kilometers” marks this place as the end of the road.
We are surrounded by rocks, cliffs, and an endless expanse of sea. This is Portugal’s Cabo da Roca-the end of the world.
Certainly, for most medieval pre-Columbian Europeans, it was. Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of continental Europe; and, after this, there is nothing but ocean. Ships would sail only in coastal waters lest they fall off the edge of a flat Earth.
The cliffs can be over one hundred meters high here and are actually a continuation (and an end) to the Sintra Massif-a kind of mountain mass or range.
There are rock islands and eddies visible; so there are definitely some weird things going on.
Despite all the weirdness, I can still spot a boat in the ocean. What can they possibly be thinking?
There are signs galore warning visitors not to get too close to the edges of the cliffs or to step on wet spots. Still, some people are willing to risk all. Maybe it was raining that day; but, for whatever reason, a German tourist got rewarded a plaque commemorating his death in a fall.
Speaking of tourists, how the hell did these folks get all the way down there?
Finally, there is a lighthouse at Cabo da Roca, too. It is the third oldest (1772) still in operation in Portugal. Of course, if you were able to look at it back then and again in 1843 and once again in 1883 (when the lighthouse underwent serious renovations) you would not recognize it. Still, it is pretty impressive-standing over 500 feet above the ocean.
Our other stop in Sagres we can see from the cliffs of Cabo da Roca: the Fortress of Sagres. We have to get over there first; and the only way is with our own two feet. So time to start walking.
In the mid-15th century, Henry the Navigator ordered this fortress built. I had not heard that name since at least high school; but they have statues of him in Portugal.
Finally, we reach the entrance path to the fortress and (eventually) the gateway. Because the coastline here is formed of cliff peninsulas that jut into the sea, it is no surprise that we can see the lighthouse and Cabo da Roca also.
The Fortress of Sagres was built to help complete Portugal’s coastal defenses. It did not serve as a slave hub and (probably not) as a launching point for journeys of discovery.
There is not much here, actually. Some odd walls, a ramp, and a rampart.
A church, “Nossa Senhora da Graca”, lies within the fortress. A Renaissance-style church, it was preceded by the church of Santa Maria, which existed at the beginning of the fortress. The present church dates from about 1570 and, while there are a few interesting things inside (a gilded altarpiece and the tombs of a few military governors), we don’t enter the church.
A lighthouse, the Farol de Vila Sagres, stands within the fortress. This lighthouse maintains a flashing red light to assist local navigation. However, there is another lighthouse at the very tip of the cape (the Farol de Sao Vincente) that is supposedly one of the most powerful in the world-visible for up to 32 nautical miles.
It’s one thing for tourists to take lethal risks, while it is more acceptable for locals to do the same-their livelihoods may depend upon it. So when we spot a fisherman coming perilously close to the cliff edge, we can only wish him well.
There is a clear path winding around most of the fortress; and yet we can see some folks cutting across to the other side through what can only be described as a moonscape. Small footpaths (no doubt created by decades of tourism) lead across this moonscape. Despite the odds, the moonscape does harbor life here and there-as attested by a sour fig plant we come across.
The shores of Portugal are a surfer’s paradise. Beginners to professionals can ply the boards here with a high headland and wonderful beaches poking into the Atlantic Ocean. That we see plenty of surfers from the fortress is, therefore, no surprise.
There isn’t much left to see in the fortress except a relief map. I have to admit that our visit to this fort, except for the views, is a bit disappointing.
Leaving the fortress, we pass by a park on our way back to the bus stop. Here, we get a better opportunity to inspect a statue of Prince Henry the Navigator.
Henry is credited with ushering in the Age of Discovery and exploration; but one suspects that guys like Gil Eannes laid all the groundwork for him. Henry was a prince and Gil was a nobody, so he didn’t make a big stink about it. Gil knew who buttered his bread.
Before the advent of cell phones, phone booths used to be ubiquitous. Now, they are as rare as they once were common. The few that one sees these days either don’t work, or are heavily damaged and graffitied. So imagine our surprise when we see a phone booth on the outskirts of Sagres, intact and apparently in good shape. In fact, this phone booth has been repurposed into a small library. Now, it holds books instead of phones. What will they think of next?
Sagres was a wonderful experience for the cliffs alone. I could have done without the fortress, though. In any event, we get on the bus back to Lagos, stay the night there, then begin the final leg of our Portuguese journey by traveling south once again.
Musical Interlude: “Sagres”-Alto Mar