Sagres Fortress wasn’t on our list to visit but on seeing it as we drove past to Cape St Vincent we just had to stop. There is an imposing bastion blocking the peninsula off and it certainly looks impressive.
Visiting Sagres Fortress
A visit Sagres is assisted by the huge car park just outside the fortress walls. There are walkways to look at the outer bastion and then entrance is through a tunnel before emerging the other side of the walls. I think entry was around €6 and there is a fantastic walk around the peninsula with plenty of information boards. This place was an unexpected hit of our visit to Portugal.
My Experience
Our visit to Sagres Fortress was as part of a wider road trip through southern Portugal, detailed in my blog here and covering eleven castles or fortresses. This was an excellent winter sun break, especially after so many covid related holiday cancellations.
The fortress at Sagres was a huge defensive wall across the peninsula and then various gun battery positions behind to cover access to the coast. The site was developed by Prince Henry the Navigator who encouraged the Portugese voyages of discovery and the development of nautical and navigational technologies. A new Discoveries Centre is being prepared for 2022 with an exhibition on Portugese exploration and navigation.
The main duty of the fortress was to protect nearby inhabitants from slave raiders from North Africa, the infamous Barbary Corsairs. The fort badly damaged by the 1755 earthquake and the subsequent tsunami washed a lot of the buildings away, rising above the surrounding cliffs! It was then reconstructed in the 1960s.
Other than the outer wall there wasn’t a huge amount of actual fortress to see but there were more impressive views and a long walk around the perimeter with lots of information boards about the plants and bird life of the area. There are parts of the medieval walls still visible once through the seventeenth century land walls and sites for various gun batteries around the enclosed coastline.
It was lovely to be walking in the sun and by the sea so we took our time. Sadly there was no cafe on site so we went back to the car park to start the drive to our hotel.
Sagres Fortress Photo Gallery
View from the fortress 
Sailing ship towards Cape St Vincent 
View towards Cape St Vincent 
Outer walls 
Replica Portugese marker used to denote new “discoveries” 
Land walls 
Land walls 
Sculptures on the circuit walk 
Gorgeous plant life 
View towards Sagres port 
View towards land walls and Sagres town 
Medieval walls 
Medieval walls 
Cannon battery 
Cannon battery 
Land walls 
Entrance tunnel 
Interior
History
The Fort of Sagres is located on a dramatic, narrow headland that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean to form Portugal’s most south-westerly point. It dates back to the 15th Century, a time when the Portuguese coast was often the target of raids from the Barbary pirates who heralded from the nearby North African shores.
The Fortaleza de Sagres was built on the orders of Henry the Navigator(Infante D. Henrique), one of the chief drivers in what became known as the Age of Discoveries. Henry spent much of his time here before setting off on his voyages upon which he was the first European to discover the Azores and large parts of the African coastline. Before the Age of Discoveries, many Europeans had been scared to venture too far out into the Atlantic out of fear that, among other things, sea monsters existed that would swallow their ships whole.
Henry also has the dubious claim of being the founder of the Atlantic slave trade.
Years after Henry’s death here in 1460, the fort was raided by the English sailor and adventurer Sir Francis Drake, but it was the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 1755 that almost destroyed the fortress. It is hard to imagine today, but the tsunami caused the sea to crash over the high cliffs here, causing devastation in its path.
Today, the walls and impressive entrance arch which stretch across the headland are all that remain of the original building. However, the fort was restored in the 20th century and is now one of Sagres’ most popular attractions. Visitors can learn about the fort’s history from the various signs dotted around the area, and walk around the outcrop, enjoying the panoramic views over the Atlantic Ocean and the rugged Cabo de Vincent coastline.
A small entrance fee gives visitors an opportunity to explore the cobbled battlements, with their cannons and there is a chance to see an early navigational wind compass-rose which measures 43 metres in diameter. There is also a small chapel – the Nossa Senhora da Graca – with some interesting depictions of Saint Vicente. Facilities here have improved over recent years with the creation of a modern space housing temporary exhibitions, a multimedia centre, shop and cafeteria.
References
The history above is copied from the Portugese tourism site here.
There is a Lonely Planet guide to the fortress here.