Help us in preserving our protected areas

Respect local traditions and the locals

Avoid attitudes that disturb the local peace

Don´t  feed any animal, observe them with binoculars

Don´t collect geological samples, let others visitors  also contemplate them.

Use flashlights and bring clothing suitable for heat

Each visitor is responsible for any garbage  produced, deposit it in the appropriate places.

Contact  local authoroties if you  detect any irregularity  lifestyles inhabitants private property noise distance of animals.

Do not pick plants.

Do not make fire waste.

Please see more information:

http://www.icnf.pt/portal/ap/resource/ap/pnsacv/folh-arrib

PNSACV_leaflet_2v

More information in English:

http://www.icnf.pt/portal/ap/resource/ap/pnsacv/pnsacv-leaflet-1

The waterways are essential to support high number of flora and fauna species, including some species of priority and endemic fish. Its riparian corridors (ie the banks of watercourses) are an important biotope for migrating passerines transarianos as well as for food and refuge for many species of mammals. But no less important are the estuaries with their areas of “nursery” for many species of fish, such as power privileged biotope, rest and nesting grounds for migratory birds.

Here can be found the famous Ilha do Pessegueiro, or Peachtree Island, with its ancient fort.

The parish of Porto Covo was established in December 31st, 1984, detached from  Sines.

A song Rui Veloso  made this town famous and known amoung the Portuguese.

It is home to the largest Portuguese municipality in area, with 1 720.60 km² of area1 but only 26,066 inhabitants (2011), 2 3 subdivided into 13 freguesias.4 the municipality limits the north by the municipality of Sines, to the north by Santiago Cacém east by Ourique, southeast of Silves, on the south by Monchique, Lagos and the southwest by west coast has the Atlantic Ocean. The southwest boundary with the municipality of Lagos, is marked by the Ribeira Seixe. The coastal area of the city and the valley of the Mira to the village of Odemira is part of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina. The county is crossed by the South Line.

Received a charter from King Afonso III in 1256.

It also has the slogan “Beja, Alentejo singular”.

The village of Sagres that was abandoned and in ruins because of  pirates raids, was  rebuilt and repopulated.

This rebuilding, by the Infante, obeyed some essential dictates:

- the need that the vessels of the time had to take refuge from the winds in the neighboring coves, waiting for favorable winds for navigation.
- the logistics requirements (boats, groceries, sailors) of the first Age of Discovery  phase.
- the convenience of maritime traffic control, being right of passage of vessels crossing the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, and vice versa.
- security and isolation necessary for the processing of information collected at the beginning of the draft Portuguese expansion stretching across North Africa.
Fortification of the tip of the promontory was determined by its location and shape, enjoying the cliff as a natural defense in three of its four sides, closely linked to its excellent strategic possibilities that integrate with the aforementioned dictates.

Thus, Sagres the first half of the fourteenth century became the core of the Portuguese maritime expansion, receiving scholars and sailors of all nationalities, gathered around the infant in Sagres School. This story was challenged by Luis de Albuquerque, “Doubts and Certainties in the history of the Portuguese Discoveries” (Lisbon, 1990, pages 15-27), which demonstrated that it was a myth.

After the death of Prince Henry (1460),  the axis of expansion was moved to Lisbon, and Sangres lost importance. As a result the distance between the Vila do Infante and the Bishop’s Village, where celebrated religious services, King Manuel (1495-1521) created of the parish of Sagres and orderer the building of the local church (1512).

Later, in 1573, King Sebastian (1568-1578) created two bastions at the extremes of the existing wall, crucial elements in the military architecture after the advent of artillery, strategically placed to optimizes the crossfire.

This space, called by many as the end of the known world is one of the largest areas of standing stones and megalithic buildings in Europe. Visited by browsers coming from the Mediterranean Sea from c. 4000 BC, was quoted from classical antiquity by Avieno, Strabo and Pliny as a worship area dedicated to Saturn or Hercules, strong connotation of deities with the maritime world. Later, during the Islamic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula sharpened up his place of pilgrimage character and are called then “Chakrach” having very contributed to this legend of the relics of the Christian martyr St. Vincent de Zaragoza.

It features a simple quadrangular single nave with small windows isolated on the walls and shot in barrel vault. The headboard with the attached sacristy, also features square plan and is surmounted by a hemispherical dome. The main facade is marked by the entry door with lintel and gable roof. The bell tower, built in the location of the ancient ossuary of the cemetery, is accessed through a staircase on the east side.

Here can be found, since 1997, the altarpiece in the Baroque style of the Chapel of St. Catherine of Belixe Fort.

At the steep cliff, constantly windswept, the visitor enjoys a stunning panoramic along the coast, especially in the coves of Sagres, Cabo San Vicente (extreme southwest of Europe) and the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean.

The fortification  and its surroundings, is integrated in the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina, offers the possibility of a close look at the natural heritage of the coast, especially the flora, housing some of the most representative species of the region as, eg “Allium ampeloprasum” (leek-mad), “Armeria welwitschii” (herb-divine), “Asteriscus maritimus” (pampilho-sea), “Crithmum maritimum” (perrexil-fish), “Juniperus turbinata” (Zimbreiro), “Malva sylvestris” (mauve), “Pancratium maritimum” (Narcissus-the-sand), “Spartium junceum” (esparto).