TO CAPE ST. VINCENT AND ALJEZUR: DAY 5

The most westerly point in Europe is Cape St. Vincent. The fishing village of Sagres sits nearby. There is an active fishing industry there and we had fish from Sagres during the vacation. Sagres is the site of the Fortaleza where Henry the Navigator established his school in the mid 1700's. The Fortaleza is a large castle on the promontory entered through a rock tunnel. It was really windy that day and sometimes it was hard to stay upright. Just inside was a huge pebble wind compass unearthed in 1921 under a church. Nobody is quite sure when this was constructed.

The Rose Compass at the Fortaleza, Sagres

Out at the Cape is was even more windy!

The Lighthouse at Cape St. Vincent

The coast at the Cape, next stop the Americas

Everywhere we went there were always lovely flowers to enjoy. Here are a few from the region of the Cape.

We then traveled up the West coast where there are a succession of lovely sandy practically empty beaches. The one below is the beach at Bordeira, a popular surfing beach.



We reached the town of Aljezur, which has the remains of a 10th century Moorish a castle to explore up a long winding hill.

View over Aljezur from the castle.

A typical cobbled street in Aljezur