Cabo Espichel


Cabo Espichel is an impressive promontory with breathtakingly large cliffs which drop to the pounding Atlantic. Sitting proud, if somewhat neglected, at the end is a sanctuary dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Cabo to which pilgrims would travel and be housed in the now dilapidated lodging houses which flank it. Dating from the 17th century, the church contains typical blue and white tiled representations of religious stories alongside many treasured paintings and a tribune designed for the visiting kings. Situated precariously on the edge of the Cape, a few metres from the main church, is the primitive little white chapel at the heart of the legend of Our Lady of the Cape. Various versions tell the same basic tale that many moons ago a brightly lit image of the Virgin would appear and save sailors from shipwreck in storms. One such lucky soul sold all he owned to build the chapel in her honour, where he would live the rest of his days alone and requested that his crew visit his hermitage every year, hence the annual pilgrimage which continued for many centuries. Cabo Espichel also attracts dinosaur enthusiasts, especially for the rock containing a footprint attributed in the legend to the mare which carried Our Lady of the Cape, but in fact apparently belonging to a dinosaur of which there is much evidence in the area.