Sagres Fortress Portugal

We are heading for the most south westerly point of the European continent. That means we are in Portugal heading for Sagres.

We are on the right road!

And definitely we have found the ocean…

We were tempted here for a number of reasons…

1. This is as far south west as the European continent goes.

2. To visit the beautiful Cape Vincente lighthouse.

3. Prince Henry the Navigator

(Yes, a prince actually did invite us! …sort of)

Aside: If you check up on your history you will know that Prince Henry of Portugal lived in the 1400’s! He is better known as Henry the Navigator as he was keenly interested in the ocean and exploration.

Here in Sagres the prince founded (?) and supported a school of navigation where scholars were brought together to teach sailors who then set sail under the Portuguese flag…the beginnings of the Age of Discoveries and early days of the empire Portugal built.

So…welcome to Fort Sagres and the school of navigation

The gateway is not from the 1400’s. An inscription in the stones says 1793.

However the church inside the walls of the fort is from the 1500’s.

(It is difficult for me to imagine that a building

where a person of the mid 1500’s walked 

is the same building I am walking in today!)

Hint: Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Not that much of the original fort and school remains so this church is quite special.

Looking out from the tower (on top of the ancient cistern) one gets an overview of what remains.

Note the lines on the ground (left side of photo above). (Hint: Click on the photo to enlarge it.)

This is the  “rosa dos ventos” from the time of the navigational school. Made from stones, it is a huge complete circle divided into segments. Thoughts re what it was used for range from a compass to a sundial.

It is easy to see where the stones came from! If you take a walk outside the walls, you will see only rock at first.

However if you look closely and take your time you will be rewarded with glimpses of patches of flowers that survive here despite the wind

 birds that flourish here

and despite the overall starkness of the promontory

glimpses of beauty in the rocks below…

way below!

My hubby took the photo above…I would never venture that close to the edge!

Visit more of Portugal, click here

and/or

Visit other parts of the world, click here

Happy Travels!