Window like the Tower of Belem
Cab driver with my niece
Niece in stroller
Looking out over the countryside
Photo from the court
Cork Convent entrance
The Convent of the Friars Minor Capuchin, popularly known as the Convent of the Capuchos (Portuguese: Convento dos Capuchos), but officially the Convento de Santa Cruz da Serra da Sintra (Convent of the Holy Cross of the Sintra Mountains). The "Cork Convent" was established in 1560. It is noteworthy for the extreme poverty of its construction, which represents the ideal of the Order of St. Francis of Assisi, and for the extensive use of cork in the protection and decoration of its small spaces.
Window of convent
Looking out - Cork Convent
Window Cork Convent
Countryside from Church near Sintra
Top of the tower
Apparently it had been thought that Cabo Finisterre and Cabo de São Vicente were the "endpoints of Europe", but actually it has now been decided that Cabo da Roca (at 9° 29.8' W) is the real westernmost point of the Eurasian continent. It is 15 km west of Cabo Finisterre.
On this cape is a lighthouse which is geographically significant (as the westernmost point), but not as important to ships as the lights of Cabo Carvoeiro to the north and Cabo Raso to the south. As a result, the lighthouse was long neglected; not until 1897 did it even have a Fresnel lens, and for the next 50 years it had only a 4° (small) lens. The station is staffed by a crew of three keepers.
Portugal has a long distinguished maritime history. It was Portuguese who first traveled out and around Africa, launching the European age of discovery 600 years ago. The Portuguese word for a lighthouse is farol, plural faróis. Lighthouses in Portugal are owned by the navy (Marinha de Portugal) and operated by the navy's lighthouse directorate
The lighthouse was built in 1772. It is still active; The light is 541 ft high and shows four white flashes every 18 s. The 72 ft tall square stone tower, rises from a 1-story keeper's complex. The tower is painted white with unpainted stone trim; the lantern is painted red (photo 2).
It appears to be the same in current pictures as in these that I took in 1964. I appologize that I did not get a good clear picture of the lighthouse as a whole. Photo 3 was the closest I got and that was backlit.
Lighthouse tower backlit
Me and my niece
Cabo da Roca ..The Westernmost Point in Europe.....not counting England or Ireland obviously or Iceland or...
My with my niece looking at the cross
It was known to the Romans as 'Promontorium Magnum' and during the Age of Sail as the Rock of Lisbon. Cabo da Roca is at the end of a 30 mile stretch of the coast known as the Portuguese Riviera. In 1997 the town council of Sintra erected a plaque that reads in part, "Cabo da Roca: Here ends the land and begins the sea." This is a quote from the Portuguese poet Camões. (Portuguese: Onde a terra acaba e o mar começa).
My sister and I and my one year old niece visited this point by taxi in 1964. In this picture, I'm standing on one leg and propping my niece up so she can see the westernmost point. My sister took the picture. There was a cross at the end of the peninsula, but we didn't walk all the way down there.
Apparently now, the tourist bureau will supply you with a document certifying that you have been to the most westerly point in Europe. But in those days, all we had to prove that we had been there was our pictures
Can you see North America? - Cabo da Roca
windmill in distance
Portuguese windmill
Back in Lisbon
When we visited Lisbon in 1964, particularly in the fish market area, we saw many women carrying their baskets of goods on their heads. It wasn't just the fishwives that carried things on their heads - there were also fruits and vegetables and other things as well. They had a padded ring type thing to cushion their heads. And very good posture!!! I tried doing it myself when I got home, and it is a good way to carry things as it is balanced (you don't have a heavy thing in one hand).
Three women gossiping
Old woman with basket in profile
- Next entry in the series 'Visiting Europe - 1950, 1964, 1992, 2002, 2015': Photographing the Fish Market in Lisbon in 1964 - post 12
- Previous entry in the series 'Visiting Europe - 1950, 1964, 1992, 2002, 2015': Touring by Taxi - part 3 in 1964 - post 10
