Blank, hulking and forbidding, Sagres’ fortress offers breathtaking views over the sheer cliffs, and all along the coast to Cabo de São Vicente. According to legend, this is where Prince Henry the Navigator established his navigation school and primed the early Portuguese explorers.
Inside the gate is a huge, curious stone pattern that measures 43m in diameter. Named the rosa dos ventos (literally, a pictorial representation of a compass), this strange paving pattern is believed to be a mariner’s compass or a sundial of sorts. Excavated in 1921, the paving may date from Prince Henry’s time, but is more likely 16th century.
The precinct’s oldest buildings include a cistern tower to the east, a house, and the small, whitewashed, 16th-century Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Graça , a simple barrel-vaulted structure with a gilded 17th-century altarpiece. Take a closer look at the tiled altar panels, which feature elephants and antelopes. The bell tower was built over the former charnel house.
Many of the gaps you will see between buildings are the result of a 1960s spring clean of 17th- and 18th-century ruins that was organised to make way for a reconstruction (later aborted) that was to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Henry’s death.
Smack in the centre is a modern, rather unsightly exhibition hall (closed at the time of writing). A small auditorium shows a short film (with English subtitles) on Sagres’ role in maritime navigation history every 40 minutes. Near the southern end of the promontory is a lighthouse . Death-defying anglers balance on the cliffs below the walls, hoping to land bream or sea bass.
It's a great walk or cycle around the perimeter of the promontory. Don't miss the limestone crevices descending to the sea, or the labyrinth art installation by Portugal's famous sculpture-architect, Pancho Guedes.
