Portugal: the palaces of Sintra, the ocean and the end of the world. Part 4. End.
Start here.
Walk to Cabo da Roca.
I don’t even know where this idea came from, but for some reason it firmly settled in my head, took the leading place there, and didn’t allow other ideas there.
Probably, looking at the ocean every day, I involuntarily imagined how the discoverers of new lands must have felt then, in the Middle Ages. Here you walk on the ground, you come to the cliff, and that's all... The earth is over. The end of the world... Is there something there, far away? You can look into this very distance for hours, and imagine and fantasize everything.
And, despite the fact that we live in the 21st century, and we already know exactly what is there - this feeling of unexploredness, delight and great curiosity is still present in us. It is this feeling that pulls us to travel the world, to see other countries, nature, customs, art and people.
The trip to Cape Roca was our final stop on this trip to Portugal.
It was worth going there on foot not for the sake of Cape Roca itself, which already looks more like a tourist attraction than the end of the world.
You need to go there on foot for the stunning ocean beaches. If the whole point was just to visit Cape Roca, you could come by bus from Sintra - after 40 minutes of travel you are there. But the bus passes through towns and highways, not along the coast. And to visit Portugal and not see the most beautiful coast, well, it’s simply impossible.
Once, inspired by the "Pilgrim's Diaries", so colorfully written by Polina_Sumy, I decided for myself that I also need something like this, something similar, my fireplace. In preparation for this trip, we looked at maps, including satellites, and saw for sure that there was a path along the coast. Directly from our village Praya Das Masash
Praia Dash Masas beach at low tide
Cabo da Roca is only 8 kilometers away. Is this distance? Everything looked quite easy. But it doesn’t happen that everything goes so smoothly! Or does it happen?
The day was chosen strategically correctly: it was on this day that no rain was promised. Before him, and after him, it rained. Air temperature in the morning +15. During the day they promise up to +25, sunny. Then go!
We have already found out that this walking route starts right from our Dash Masas beach.
The beginning of the fireplace near Praia Dash Masas
The path goes along a cliff along the ocean, fenced off from the edge of the cliff by a low wooden fence.
Camino goes to Praia Grande
Climbing up the hill, we immediately see the characteristic red and white marks along the road. There are excavations along the way.
Excavations of a Roman sanctuary
A Roman sanctuary has been discovered at this site.
Description of the excavations of the Roman sanctuary
Wow! People have inhabited these places for a very long time!
The first beach is visible from the cliff. The girl who was jogging and swimming alone on it in such cool weather wrote “BOM DIA” (Have a nice day! ) to the whole beach.
Beach with a wish
Thank you! This wish just made our day. Ten minutes later we came to the neighboring beach of Praia Grande.
It's so huge, over 2 kilometers long! Smooth, with a wide strip of surf.
The Boundless Praia Grande
At the far end of this beach there are very beautiful granite rocks, like granite pillars, hewn by some giant. The pillars just fly up, covering the sun.
Granite giants on Praia Grande
You feel like a goosebump. Standing below, it is impossible to even guess where it all ends and whether there is anything up there. Here is the power! After admiring enough, almost wetting the shorts in an unexpected wave,
Passage between rocks on Praia Grande
We're going to look for the stairs. The maps showed that our fireplace continued up this staircase.
The stairs from Praia Grande lead to the fireplace
But we are in for a complete disappointment: the staircase is closed due to the danger of collapses. I think if a fine of 300 euros had not loomed ominously on the sign, we would have jumped over these fences.
Emergency staircase on Praia Grande
But sorting things out with law enforcement officers and getting into a fine of 600 euros for two somehow did not smile.
What if there, upstairs, sits such a Portuguese caretaker and watches who rises? Yeah, another 300 euros are stomping! Tried to find another way. The map no longer showed anything, but then we saw a well-paved path that steeply goes up from the beach. Surely it leads to the track, (as it turned out, it used to be so) we thought, and we went. The climb was so steep, I don't want to make a mistake, but it was definitely 40 degrees.
We were walking, and the path was almost vertical in front of us. Having reached almost to the very top, we ran into the gates of some private estate. There was no way around it. The sight and barking of the owner's sheep-dogs cooled our ardor. We decided not to risk it and go back. We went to the beach again and asked the local workers if there was a way forward. And they: “Cabo da Roca? ”. Apparently, there are plenty of such pedestrians. And they said that we need to go back and go around the Praia Grande beach along the highway, there is no more passage here. They spoke Portuguese, but we understood them perfectly. Truly, if people want to understand each other, then there is no language barrier.
This is how we wound an extra 6 km.
We got onto the highway over the Praia Grande beach and then walked along the highway to the town of Almusageme.
Streets in Almusagem
There were no signposts to the fireplace.
Interesting tiles instead of a house number in Almusagem
A couple of times we saw alluring turns towards the ocean, but the signs indicated that it was a boarding house,
Gate of the Almusagem Holiday House
then to gelateria.
Houses in Almusagem
To help tired travelers along the road, there were fruits on the trees that looked like apricots, with a pleasant sweet and sour taste and with four seeds.
Just great to quench your thirst!
Then we learned that they are called medlar, in Portuguese nespera.
Finally, entering the village, we saw a nice girl at the bus stop, who told us that we missed the right turn. It is necessary to go back about 500 meters and turn towards the coast, there really is a hiking trail (camino), and that the path along it is much more picturesque and shorter.
We did just that. We went back a little and turned onto the road leading somewhere towards the ocean, with the sign “Gelateria”. But the further we went along it, the more doubts crept in. There was no fireplace or gelateria in sight.
Not a soul around. They put their hands on the phone for help - he obviously did not understand what they wanted from him.
And then the car stopped, a nice young guy looked out of it, asked what language we speak, what problems we have, if we need help. I was overwhelmed by this participation. Our people should learn such responsiveness! We explained to him that we were looking for a way to Cape Roca, and he showed us where to go. It turned out that we were going in the right direction, we just were not completely sure about it. Literally five minutes later the road turned into the forest,
Camino passes through the forest
and the familiar stripes of the walking route appeared.
Someone already wrote here : ), and we confirm that their chimneys are very well marked, as a rule, they pass away from villages and highways,
Camino passes through a picturesque area
and just created for the contemplation of the beautiful, no matter how many kilometers you go. Our path following the signs brought us to the beautiful beach of Praia Adraga.
View of Praia Adraga from the mountain
Such a pristine beauty! Here you can see the power of the ocean in full.
Praia Adraga
The beach is not crowded and stunningly photogenic.
Praia Adraga
The nearest village of Almusageme is located quite high on the mountain, and you need to walk to this beach for a long time, or drive by car. Since it was a weekday, there were practically no cars. There were ten people on the beach, but they all got lost in these open spaces!
Waves on Praia Adraga
It was this beach that became No. 1 in terms of beauty and power in our personal rating.
But it was nearing noon, and we left at 9 am. It's time to take a break.
Grottoes on Praia Adraga
Having rested for an hour, wandering around the expanses of Adraga beach,
Praia Adraga
after admiring the grottoes and the waves,
The grotto on Praia Adraga
We moved further towards our goal.
Here, with the kamino notation, everything was already simple. Immediately from the beach there was a sign for Cabo da Roca,
Index to the fireplace
and we went along a beautiful country road, among meadows and grasses.
Camino passes among meadows and grass
To the right, under the cliffs, the ocean rustled, as if offended that we did not admire it every minute of our journey.
The ocean glows with different colors
So, another two hours passed unnoticed on the road, and we reached Cape Doom.
People flock from all directions to the memorial sign at Cape Roca
The last kilometer, however, you have to walk along the highway, and the traffic there is very busy, and the exhaust gases are not encouraging (the houses were inhaled with them). But here it is - the goal! Here it is the official end of the world, the westernmost point of Europe!
Wishing to take a picture near the memorial sign
You understand with your head, but still the consciousness that this is what it is does not come immediately.
Such a solemn moment happens almost once in a lifetime, it should be noted!
And we had it with us! All the way we carried a bottle of Portuguese sparkling Vino verde with us. And those who didn’t have it with them were probably envious, because there is nowhere to buy it.
When I popped the cork, I felt like a screen star! How many envious eyes of all colors and varying degrees of slanting looked at us! And how delicious it was for us!
Lighthouse on Cabo da Roca
There are always a lot of tourists at Cape Roca.
After the deserted Kamino road, you don't even expect to plunge into such a crowd.
And much more come here to meet the sunset.
These are unforgettable moments.
There is a tourist center on Cabo da Roca, where for 11 euros you can buy a certificate with your name that you have visited this place. To be honest, the certificate doesn't look as pretty as we've seen online. Maybe they changed the design. But people are buying. It seems to me that no certificates can replace the impressions and memories that remain in our hearts and heads.
It was even a little sad to say goodbye to Cabo da Roca. But the most advertised beach, Ursa Beach, has not yet been covered. Its beauty was captured by the National Geographic, and since then it has also become the hallmark of Portugal. Many tourists arriving at Cape Roca want to see it.
Immediately from Cape Roca you can go to the paths
Paths on Cape Roca
which lie along the picturesque hills.
On the way to Ursa Beach
Wandering between the stones, then descending, then rising, they take us to Ursa Beach.
On the way, the picturesque wild Aroeira beach is visible from the rocks, but it is difficult to access.
Aroeira Wild Beach
The descent to the beach of Ursa is rather inconvenient and takes a lot of time. This is not a dirt road, but rather a wild trail. Most of the way you have to carefully put your feet between stones and thorny bushes. The paths are more like dried up traces of water streams.
Paths on Ursa Beach
The beach is really beautiful, wild, a small strip of sand among bizarre heaps of rocks.
On our visit, the beach was completely flooded with waves,
Ursa beach is flooded with waves
so there was no way to wander around it. We limited ourselves to photos from approximately the same angle as National Geographic.
It took us three hours to get home. We knew exactly where to go, had no doubts and walked at a sporting pace without stopping for photo pauses. On this day, the pedometer showed 28 km. This is how those 8 km in a straight line actually look.
Tired and happy that we did it, we returned to the hotel.
There was one day left before the flight home...
last day on the ocean
Let us see only a small part, but nevertheless we carried out our plan and saw in Portugal the first thing that we most wanted.
We will be very happy if our feedback and experience is useful to someone on his journey.
Farewell sunset
Travel, learn and let everything be fine!
