From Areia Branca beach to Paimogo Fort

This enchanting walking tour will lead you across the most incredible bucolic landscapes at the heart of a jaw-dropping nature.

This enchanting walking tour will lead you across the most incredible bucolic landscapes at the heart of a jaw-dropping nature. It starts in the coastal area on the south of Areia Branca beach, heading to Paimogo Fort.

The Paimogo Fort was built in 1674 by order of António Luís de Menezes, Count of Cantanhede, also known as the Marquis of Marialva and hero of the Restoration wars. Its mission was to defend the beaches near the fort in order to prevent enemy troops from landing. The fort was part of the second fortified defence line, which began at the Praça Forte da Vila de Peniche and stretched as far as Barra do Tejo. From the fort you can see Peniche to the north and Areia Branca beach to the south.

In the context of the Peninsular War (1808-1814), under cover of their fires, English forces landed here to reinforce the Portuguese-British forces under the command of Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who, after the battle of Roliça (17 August 1808), took part in the battle of Vimeiro (21 August 1808).

Further info here.

The legacy of Saramago

In 2020, on the day José Saramago would celebrate its 98th birthday – November 16th – Alexandre Farto aka VHILS paid a tribute to the Nobel Prize award-winning writer by sculpting his face on the rocks of a pier in Paimogo beach in Lourinhã. However, the face of the Portuguese writer can only be seen under special light and tide conditions.

The artist displayed this amazing work on his Facebook and Instagram profiles, quoting The Stone Raft:

"So often we need a whole lifetime in order to change our life, we think a great deal, weigh things up and vacillate, then we go back to the beginning, we think and think, we displace ourselves on the tracks of time with a circular movement, like those clouds of dust, dead leaves, debris, that have no strength for anything more, better by far that we should live in a land of hurricanes.“

Saramago’s legacy made eternal on the rocks facing the Atlantic!

The legacy of Saramago

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