Sagres Point 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 Portugal. Only 4 km to the west and 3 km to the north lies Cape St. Vincent (), which is usually taken as the southwesternmost tip of Europe. The vicinity of Sagres Point and Cape St. Vincent has been used for religious purposes since Neolithic times, to which standing menhirs near Vila do Bispo, a few miles from both points, attest. The promontory of Sagres has always been important for sailors because it offers
Sagres Point a shelter for ships before attempting the dangerous voyage around Cape St. Vincent (could be Belixe Bay, between Sagres Point and the Cape, or Sagres Bay, to the east). Given the dangers of being blown onto the coastal rocks, captains preferred to wait in the lee of the point until favourable winds allowed them to continue. There is some question whether Sagres Point, whose name derives from "Sacrum Promontorium", or neighboring Cape St. Vincent, was the ancient sacred promontory. Strabo believed the promontory was the most westerly point of the "whole inhabited world." In fact Cape St. Vincent is more