Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
One kilometre east of the square, past holiday villas and restaurants, is the port, still a
centre for boatbuilding and lobster fishing, and the marina.
Sagres has milder temperatures than other parts of the Algarve, with Atlantic winds
keeping the summers cool.
CHOOSING A SURF SCHOOL
The best way to choose a reputable surf school is to check the website of the
Surf School Association of Costa
Vicentina
(
www.algarvesurfschoolsassociation.com)
. Schools listed here are registered and follow rules and reg-
ulations set out by the organisation.
History
Sagres is where dashing Prince Henry the Navigator built a new, fortified town and a se-
mimonastic school of navigation that specialised in cartography, astronomy and ship
design, steering Portugal on towards the Age of Discoveries.
At least, that's according to history and myth. Henry was, among other things, governor
of the Algarve and had a residence in its primary port town, Lagos, from where most ex-
peditions set sail. He certainly did put together a kind of nautical think-tank, though how
much thinking went on out at Sagres is uncertain. He definitely had a house somewhere
near Sagres, where he died in November 1460.
In May 1587 the English privateer Sir Francis Drake, in the course of attacking supply
lines to the Spanish Armada, captured and wrecked the fortifications around Sagres. The
Ponta de Sagres was refortified following the earthquake of 1755, after which there was
little of verifiable antiquity left standing.
