A Land of Gods - Sagres, Where Europe Ends in the Atlantic

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Deus quer, o homem sonha, a obra nasce.
Deus quis que a terra fosse toda uma,
Que o mar unisse, já não separasse.
Sagrou-te, e foste desvendando a espuma,

E a orla branca foi de ilha em continente,
Clareou, correndo, até o fim do mundo,
E viu-se a terra inteira, de repente,
Surgir, redonda, do azul profundo.

Mensagem - Fernando Pessoa

Believed to be the end of the world until a few centuries ago, the Ponta de Sagres/Cabo de Sao Vicente is a fantastic location, where you can still feel the magic atmosphere which amazed and frightened our ancestors.

At Roman times this whole area was part of the Promontorium Sacrum (hence the name Sagres), the furthermost tip of eastern land into the Atlantic, where the sun, when setting upon the ocean, was believed to boil its water... This was a sacred place where sacrifices took place. Humans were banned to come out here after dawn, when gods were believed to come down and wonder around the land of the living...

This place would later see the caravelas, the great discoverers' ships sailing across to find new land on the other side of the Atlantic.

Forte de Sagres was built on the sixteenth century. Already there since the fourteenth century, the chapel's foundations were, according to tradition, built over the tomb of San Vincent.

Attended mainly by fishermen who perch precariously on top of the high cliffs, the fort may still be, up to this date, a place where gods wonder around and possibly claim human lives. By the time of my visit, two victims were reported to have fallen down into the ocean since the new year. Travellers are hopefully spared this fate!

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Comments

[John]

Interesting
Something new you learn everyday! It all looks very beautiful.