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Lagos to the Costa Vicentina

Algarve and Alentejo, Portugal · 15 stories · 1 day

From the Age of Discovery port of Lagos to the lighthouse at Cabo de São Vicente, then north along Europe's wildest Atlantic coast, past Moorish castles, surf beaches and storks nesting on sea cliffs.

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Stories along the way

  1. 1. Lagos and the Golden CaravelsIn 1434, a local sailor named Gil Eanes pulled out of this harbour and set course for Cape Bojador, a spot medieval Europeans genuinely feared was the end of the world. He made it…
  2. 2. The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755On a quiet Saturday morning in November 1755, thousands of candles were lit across Lisbon for the Feast of All Saints. Then, at roughly twenty to ten, the earth began to tear…
  3. 3. The Chaos off LagosImagine looking out over the open ocean off the coast of Lagos, where in August 1759, a desperate midnight pursuit turned into one of the decisive naval battles of the Seven…
  4. 4. The Myth of Prince HenryFor centuries, popular tradition claimed that Prince Henry the Navigator sat in a fortress on the windswept cliffs of Sagres, running a grand academy for astronomers and master…
  5. 5. Where Continental Europe Meets the AtlanticYou are traveling through the far southwest corner of continental Europe, a windswept landscape wrapped on two sides by the Atlantic Ocean. Here in Vila do Bispo, sun-bleached…
  6. 6. At the Edge of EuropeYou are coming into the absolute edge of southwestern Europe, where dramatic, wind-battered cliffs drop straight down into the Atlantic Ocean. Long before it was a modern parish,…
  7. 7. Singeing the King's BeardImagine stealing nearly three thousand barrels of Spanish wine, burning dozens of the enemy's warships right in their home port, and bragging that you had just singed the King's…
  8. 8. Edge of the Known WorldAs you travel toward the southwesternmost tip of mainland Europe, the land comes to a sudden, dramatic halt: sheer seventy-five-metre cliffs dropping straight into the churning…
  9. 9. Nelson's Patent BridgeImagine looking out over the Atlantic from the high headlands off Cape St. Vincent on a freezing February morning in 1797. Below, a thick sea fog rolls across the water. Out in…
  10. 10. Europe's Last Wild CoastLook out around you at one of the very last strongholds of wild coastal wilderness left anywhere in Europe. This is the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park.…
  11. 11. Pirates and Fortresses of AljezurAs you move along this wild stretch of Portugal's western coast, you are passing through a landscape shaped by relentless waves and dark Atlantic cliffs. Human hands have carved…
  12. 12. Where the Algarve BeginsYou are coming into the steep, rolling country where the Alentejo region ends and the Algarve begins. Clinging to the hillside along the south bank of the Ribeira de Seixe is…
  13. 13. Where Alentejo Cliffs Meet August RhythmsAs you travel along this dramatic stretch of the Alentejo coast, south of Cabo Sardão, the earth begins to fracture. Deep valleys cut through towering cliffs, dropping down into…
  14. 14. The Master of the ThermalsLook up into the sky on a warm day, and you might witness a bird that refuses to fly over open ocean. The white stork—a towering creature with a wingspan reaching over two metres,…
  15. 15. The Pirates and Pilots of MilfontesYou are coming into a landscape where the Mira River meets the crashing Atlantic, framed by the wild woods and white sand beaches of the Alentejo coast. It looks like a tranquil…