Cape St. Vincent Cape St. Vincent Cape St. Vincent (, ) is a headland in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, in the Algarve, southern Portugal. It is the southwesternmost point of Portugal and of mainland Europe. Cape St. Vincent was already sacred ground in Neolithic times, as standing menhirs in the neighborhood attest. The ancient Greeks called it Ophiussa (Land of Serpents), inhabited by the Oestriminis and dedicated here a temple to Heracles. The Romans called it "Promontorium Sacrum" (or Holy Promontory). Strabo, in his Geography call this cape the most western tip of the known world and reports the place was
Sagres Point of tombstones present. Inside this unpretentious church, the 17th century Baroque retable above the altar originates from the "Capela de Santa Catarina do Forte de Belixe" (St. Catherine's Chapel in Belixe Fortress), while the polychrome statues of St. Vincent and St. Francis were once part of the Franciscan convent on the Cape St. Vincent. Next to the church stands a replica stone standard ("padrão"), used by the explorers to claim a newly discovered territory. Sagres Point Sagres Point ("", , from the Latin "Promontorium Sacrum" ‘Holy Promontory’) is a windswept shelf-like promontory located in the southwest Algarve region of southern