You! Yes you!; You look like the kind of person who loves sunsets
What was that? not really and there’s nothing i can do to change that ?
*Cracks knuckles in Portuguese* Challenge accepted!
By now you might have noticed Portugal is somewhat of a perfect place to see one of nature’s best gifts to mankind; no not water, and nope, not nutritious, life-sustaining food, i’m talking about sunsets!
At this point, i can already hear you screaming, “what are you even talking about?? that’s completely non-essential for life” and yes, you’re absolutely correct, human beings still cannot live off sunsets, unfortunately, but you’d be surprised how many problems can be fixed by simply witnessing a jaw-dropping sunset, and i, your friendly neighbourhood sunsetter, am here to show you one of the best places in Portugal to do so, and it’s name is Cabo Espichel.
But before we move on to my personal, amazing, mouth watering collection of photos (i’m setting myself pretty high here, let’s see how this goes) taken at Cabo Espichel, let me give you a short intro.
Cabo Espichel is situated on the western coast of the municipality of Sesimbra, in the Setúbal district, and hosts two main points of interest; the 15th century church and sanctuary of Nossa senhora do cabo and the Cabo de Espichel lighthouse. The location’s relatively high altitude of ~134m made it a good location for the sanctuary as it inherits a natural defense against naval attacks; add this to a limited roman presence at the time, and you’ve got a pretty good place to build upon.
Lighthouse tower 
Memory Hermitage 
Church and Sanctuary
Being this high up, doesn’t just make it a good building ground, but also, and arguably more importantly, makes for an amazing place to see the thing no human being can get enough of; sunsets!
Here are some amazing sunsets that i’ve had the privilege to witness:
Light projection 
Just look at this beauty 
Light projection 
Ericeira-like sunset 
Sintra mountain in a distance 
Full sunset 
Cotton candy clouds 
The lava horizon
If you have a keen eye, you will have noticed that there’s a theme in the photos u until this point, and it’s sun projection; this place has a stunning reaction to direct sunlight, quite unlike any other place, Cabo da Roca included; and if you’re lucky enough to catch this phenomenon, you’ll gain a new appreciation for life, and have one of those scarce Kumbaya moments where you’ll obtain true inner peace; that’s the Serial Sunsetter guarantee.
There are also 2 beaches below the cape that are very much worth mentioning; Horse beach, and Lagosteiros Beach, both with an access best described as in between thrill seeking and just pure madness, but they do make for an amazing sight from above, specially when the sunlight hits the water just right turning it almost into a caribbean blue adding to the all-around wow factor of the cape.
If exploring around isn’t really your thing, you might want to consider doing a barbecue while you wait for the golden hour, as there are ready-made structures for either a view intensive BBQ or just a simple fireplace come nightfall.
The location of the BBQ/fireplace 
The view 
BBQ/fireplace area
So, a place that definitely deserves to be visited, and i hope now you might have the slightest idea of that yourself, and if you decide to go, make sure to stay until dusk, as it’s a common rookie mistake to leave just after the actual sunset is over, and they end up losing the amazing finally that follows.
© 2020 Tiago Branco All Rights Reserved
The Serial Sunsetter 