Valentine's Day invites a quick trip back to the Algarve. This time we keep to the Atlantic coast. A handful of sites offers a concentrated review of Portugal's history, as we again go back in time.
Like Portugal, São Valentim is associated with the galo (rooster). According to the diplomat and author John Ure, Valentine's is also the anniversary of the marriage of Dom João I and Filipa de Lencastre (1387), the parents of Infante Dom Henrique, "o Navegador" (1394-1460) – one generation before Vasco da Gama (1469-1524). These are the major players in the stops along our route, players, and places that launch the Império Português.
The A22 autoestrada 'east-west spine' of the Algarve ends just west of Lagos, leaving the western corner connected only by the N125 estrada nacional. This has a reputation as one of the most dangerous roads in Portugal (blame drunk tourists and dark roundabouts?). We can avoid the N125 by sticking near the coast and stopping half-way in Sines (pop 14,214 in 2021). We leave the 'north-south' A2 for the quieter IP8 itinerário principal near Grândola.
Sines sits on a sharp point on the Alentejo Litoral, and faces to the southwest. A series of layered breakwaters encloses a semi-circular public beach. There is convenient parking just to the east of the Castelo de Sines (fifteenth century). From our online searches, the Castelo is only mildly interesting; and today it is closed, though there is an excellent miradouro, complete with cannons. No matter, we are here to stretch our legs – so we head down to the praia.
Sines is the birthplace of Vasco da Gama, whose statue lords over the baía. A switchback road, cut with levels and stairs, leads down to the water. We cross the Avenida Vasco da Gama to the Praia Vasco da Gama, where the great explorer's name is immortalized in the calçadas along with the brasão of the city.
Dom Vasco da Gama
1469 - 1524
Descobridor e Almirante do Mar da Índia
1° Conde da Vidigueira
Vice-Rei da Índia
"… Aquelle illustre Gama
Que para si de Eneas toma a fama."
("Nay, more, I give thee Gama's noble name,
who for himself claims all Eneas' fame."
The stop in Sines, a good meal and a good walk, makes the final leg of the journey much more comfortable.
Sagres (pop 1,894 in 2021), the southern-most town of the Algarve, holds a wind-blown promontory. Nearby, just a bit west, the Fortaleza de Sagres (fifteenth century, technically, part of the town) occupies another, longer promontory, the actual southern-most 'point'. We park in a flat, cobbled plaza, with palm fronds hissing in the persistent breeze. The Pousada's window-glass is coated with a foggy film from the salt spray.
On foot, we head out to the Fortaleza, on the other side of the enseada, to catch the sunset. The satellite views of Google and Apple Maps do not convey the impact of the Z-axis. What seemed to be a long a grassy seashore is, in fact, a rocky cliff's edge. The 'beach-side' restaurants are high above the sand. At least the scrub brush absorbs some of the wind; but, it is not cold or unpleasant.
The blush from the setting sun intensifies as we reach the Fortaleza. A handful of sun-gazers has found cover on the far side of the bastion walls, though only a thin strip of land remains between the muralhas and the sheer drop. On the distant western horizon, yet another promontory stretches from the mainland – Cabo de São Vicente (tomorrow's itinerary). Several dozen meters below, the tides crash the craggy edges. Further out in the swells, a brave band of surfers awaits one last wave.
Historically, Sagres is the home base of Infante Dom Henrique. The biographer Ure writes:
[Prince Henry] could have chosen no bleaker spot. The cliffs of Sagres rise sheer from the Atlantic; gales sweep the tufts of rough grass which are the only vegetation; no roads stretched beyond the barren hamlet of Raposeira. Here Prince Henry hired a simple lodging and devoted his days and nights to contemplating the ocean. Although the chroniclers were not so disrespectful as to suggest it, many of the Prince's associates must have ascribed this curious conduct to pique at being prevented from attacking Gibraltar. It seems more than likely that this was an element in his behaviour. But there was much more than the pique of a frustrated soldier; there was also the curiosity of an awakened explorer. (John Ure, "Prince Henry the Navigator", 1977, Constable)
Of the Fortaleza, Ure adds that it is less likely the site of a 'navigation school', as is commonly reported in guide books, but simply a hideaway where the inventive and moody Henrique can tinker on naval design, cartography, and navigation. Much as historians credit Brunelleschi with providing the intellectual spark for the Italian Renaissance in Florence (c 1415), Henrique develops the groundwork for Portugal's Era dos Descobrimentos in Sagres (c 1419). Ure offers this assessment:
And the way in which he set abour achieving his objective provides additional evidence: superstitions were rejected; the study of astronomy and other relevant sciences was related to clear objectives and not pursued - as so often in the medieval world - as an esoteric metaphysical exercise; empirical methods were employed and experiment made the basis of further experiment. It was a Renaissance prince, not a medieval knight, who achieved the rounding of Cape Bojador. (John Ure, "Prince Henry the Navigator", 1977, Constable)
In researching the trip, we uncover a story in the Big Think – "world's longest strait line" from Sagres to the coast of China opposite Taiwan. On the ruler-perfect roadway, it is easy to imagine the Rua da Fortaleza as the start of that line. As Infante Dom Henrique, Vasco da Gama and the other 'discoverers' seek a route to East Asia, they never try a straight walk. At the end of that walk is the island the Portuguese sailors call 'Ilha Formosa'.
The world’s longest straight line over land – Big Think, Jan 30
After dinner, Siri (our modern navegador) sends us home along the unlit Rua Infante Dom Henrique. Here in the darkness, at the world's edge, we are able to see stars. As we turn south, the constellation Orion hovers above the dunes, a hunter facing west. We are reconnected to the universe. The iPhone does what it can to capture the eternal starlight.
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