Day 26 Sagres, Cabo St. Vincent & western beaches

Today the weather was sunny and high of 24C.

We took a day trip to the south eastern edge of Portugal today. On the drive to Sagres we stopped for a look at Praia do Martinhal beach. We had seen a video on a resort at this beach and decided to take a quick stop for a look. It is a very nice wind swept beach - not many people around and a quiet area generally. From there we stopped at Mareta Beach, which is the closest to Sagres lighthouse point on the western side. There was more activity at this beach, though still not busy, with some surfers out in the water. Then on to the Fortaleza de Sagres, this is the structure and lighthouse area that highlights Sagres. It is on a barren, wind swept point, kind of like Cape Spear in NL. At the Foraleza site there is a museum/exhibit hall, which we did go into and it was worth the visit, with interesting items, exhibits and info about Portugal history.

A side note, on the few mins drive from Mareta Beach to Sagres Fort we stopped at an amazing ceramics shop/factory along the road and went into the store to look around. The prices were not great but the inventory was amazing.

Then we went into Sagres town and had some lunch at a local cafe. From there it was on to the nearby Cabo St. Vincent. Prior to Cabo we stopped at Praia do Beliche beach, which is an amazing beach sandwiched between cliffs in between Sagres point and Cabo St. Vincent points.

At the Cabo St. Vincent, you have another windswept barren penninsula (these two sites, Sagres and Cabo St. Vincent are in eye sight of each other, so only mins drive apart). At Cabo St. Vincent you have the Farol do Cabo de Sao Vincente, or the lighthouse. You cannot go into the lighthouse, so it is just look from outside and take in the views.

After our walkabout at Cabo St. Vincent we drove on back the main road to Vila do Bisbo, from where we took route N268 towards Carrapateira and Praia do Bordeira.

We stopped at Praia do Bordeira to take in another unique and amazing beach setting. Praia do Bordeira is a striking spot due to the size of the beach, which is at a river outlet into the ocean. We walked around the cliffs overlooking the beach and took in the setting and took some pictures. We didn’t walk the beach as we wanted to get back to our place before dark. The roads to and from Bordeira (we took the N268 to the N120 back towards Lagos) had very sparse traffic and particularly from Bordeira, are winding, twisting and turning, perfect for a car rally, only we were not really looking for a car rally this day.

Anyways, here are some pictures from the sites of this day…..