Sagres - Fortaleza de Sagres 
The Fortaleza de Sagres lies on the Ponta de Sagres, 2km/1.25mi south of Sagres. This narrow promontory reaching out into the sea was called Promontorium Sacrum (sacred promontory) by the Romans, who thought this remote area was a home of the gods. The fortress still forms a focal point in the story of Portuguese discovery and conquest in the 15th and 16th C., even though, as mentioned above, it seems improbable that an international center ever existed here.
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Must-see attractions nearby:
Fortaleza de Sagres
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Henry the Navigator is said to have preferred his house in Lagos to that on the cliffs at Sagres and to have come here only very occasionally. Sagres harbor remained unimportant, as the expeditions that Henry financed and organized set out from Lagos.
Fortifications
Little remains of the original fort built in Henry the Navigator's time. This was largely destroyed in an attack by Sir Francis Drake and by the 1755 earthquake, but the fortifications were rebuilt in the 18th C.; hence the date of 1793 above the entrance to what are among the earliest defensive walls to be restored using concrete. Inside the walls there are very few remains from Henry's time.
Fortifications
Little remains of the original fort built in Henry the Navigator's time. This was largely destroyed in an attack by Sir Francis Drake and by the 1755 earthquake, but the fortifications were rebuilt in the 18th C.; hence the date of 1793 above the entrance to what are among the earliest defensive walls to be restored using concrete. Inside the walls there are very few remains from Henry's time.
Related Attractions
Igreja Matriz de Sao Clemente
On the other side of the Fortaleza de Sagres can be seen the little Church of Our Lady of Grace, dating from the 16th C. It is believed that there was previously an earlier church dedicated to Mary on this same site. The commemorative column nearby was erected in 1960 for the 500th anniversary of Henry's death.
Windrose
After passing through the gate of Fortaleza de Sagres the large Rosa dos Ventos (windrose) can be seen to the left. It consists of a stone circle, 43m/140ft in diameter. For centuries is was overgrown with grass and it was between 1918 and 1959 when it was finally uncovered. It probably dates from the 15th C., but its exact function is unclear. Usually wind roses have only 32 segments, but that at Sagres has 48 lines runing from the center of the circle to its circumference.
