Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the days before Columbus, when the world was presumed to be flat, this rugged south-
western tip of Portugal was the spot closest to the edge of the Earth. Prince Henry the
Navigator, determined to broaden Europe's horizons and spread Catholicism, founded his
navigators' school here and sent sailors ever farther into the unknown. Shipwrecked and
frustrated explorers were carefully debriefed as they washed ashore.
Portugal's “end of the road” is two distinct capes. Windy
CapeSt.Vincent
is actually the
most southwestern tip. It has a desolate lighthouse (currently closed for restoration) that
marks what was thought of even in prehistoric times as “the end of the world.” Outside the
lighthouse, salt-of-the-earth merchants sell figs, seaworthy sweaters (€25 average), cotton
tea towels (a bargain at €1), and the
“Letzte Bratwurst vor Amerika”
(last hot dog before
America).
Cape Sagres,
with its old fort and Henry the Navigator lore, is the more his-
toric cape of the two. At either cape, look for daredevil windsurfers and fishermen casting
from the cliffs.
Lashed tightly to the windswept landscape is the salty
townofSagres,
above a harbor
of fishing boats. Sagres is a popular gathering place for the backpacking crowd, with
plenty of private rooms in the center and a barely existent beach and bar scene.
