Tours in Sesimbra

Sesimbra is a fishing town under the lee of the Serra da Arrábida, forty kilometres south of Lisbon. The hills block the north wind that reaches most of this coast. The harbour still runs on fish.

The castle and the harbour

• The castle. A hilltop fortress with roots in the 9th century under Islamic rule, taken in 1165 by Afonso Henriques, Portugal's first king.
• Fortaleza de Santiago. A 17th-century fort right in the centre, built to strengthen Atlantic defences during the war with Spain, and now home to a small museum on the town's fishing history.
• The fish. Swordfish and percebes, the barnacle-like shellfish pried off wave-battered rocks, are the two things Sesimbra's restaurants are known for along this coast.

Cabo Espichel

• The headland. A cliff at the southwestern tip of the municipality, with a lighthouse and a sanctuary built for pilgrims rather than sightseers.
• The sanctuary. Nossa Senhora do Cabo, expanded in 1701 by royal order, with two long wings of pilgrim houses built for the crowds a religious festival once drew here.
• The footprints. Dinosaur tracks preserved in the sloped rock below the cliff, left by sauropods crossing a shallow Jurassic lagoon roughly 160 million years ago.

Practical

• Weather. Summer runs near 27C, the Arrábida hills keeping off the worst of the north wind; winter days sit around 15C.
• Getting there. Sesimbra has no train line; a direct bus or a car from Lisbon is the practical route, and takes about an hour.
• Cabo Espichel access. The headland is a short drive from town, with no public transport running all the way out; the footprints sit on exposed rock, not fenced off.
• Boats. Diving and dolphin trips run out of the harbour on calmer days; the same swell that makes the surf works against the smaller boats.