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Yesterday, I had a couple of meetings with potential customers in the Western Algarve, about one and a half hours drive away from where I live. The meetings went well, and afterwards, as I mostly do when I am in the region, I take some time off, and enjoy the beautiful landscape and the neighbourhood. As I hadn’t been there in more than a year, I took the liberty to drive all the way to the most southwestern part of Europe, Cabo São Vicente, Cape Saint Vincent.

Approximately six kilometers from the village of Sagres, the cape is a landmark for a ship traveling to or from the Mediterranean. The cliffs rise nearly vertically from the Atlantic to a height of 75 meters. When I am over there, I always wonder how people in former centuries must have experienced that place.

Cabo São Vicente was already sacred ground in ancient times, and the ancient Greeks called it “Land of Serpents” and dedicated here a temple to Heracles. The Romans called it Promontorium Sacrum (or Holy Promontory). They considered it a magical place where the sunset was much larger than anywhere else. They believed the sun sank here hissing into the ocean, marking the edge of their world.

All one can see is the almighty Atlantic Ocean, with Africa somewhere in the south, South America somewhere in the southwest and Noth America somewhere in the west. The costline goes into two directions, either north (ending up in Nothern Europe, or east, all the way to Turkey. You can even have the “last sausage before America” over here.

Afterwards, I made a stop in Burgau, located about ten minutes west from Lagos. Burgau is a very peaceful, unspoilt and friendly little fisherman’s village where everyone, no matter the age of interests feels great. I took a quick lunch over there, before returning to my office and do the necessary things a man has got to do.

Oviously, I took some pictures.

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