Sesimbra: from the hilltop castle down to the sea: a self-guided walk

By Alleytale

A fishing town on the Arrábida coast, followed downhill from its castle to its harbour fort

Sesimbra began on the hill, and from the 15th century its people moved down to the bay to fish and build boats. Each stop on the way down shows a piece of that move: a church that was too far to climb to, a guild chapel for seafarers, and finally a fort that protected the harbour.

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The stops

1. 1Castle of Sesimbra

   Sesimbra began inside these walls. Afonso Henriques took the castle from the Moors in 1165, the Almohads took it in 1191, and Sancho I won it back for good in 1199, the year he gave the town its first charter, when the town still stood inside the castle. From the 15th century people moved down to the bay to fish and build boats, and you can still walk the walls above them.

   

2. 2Church of Nossa Senhora do Castelo

   The present church inside the castle walls dates from 1721. Once the congregation had moved to a newer church closer to the town, it fell into ruin, and it was restored between 1965 and 2001. Inside, the walls are lined with 18th-century azulejo tiles.

   

3. 3Igreja Matriz de Santiago

   Work on this parish church began in 1533, started by Jaime de Lencastre, who later became bishop of Ceuta. Until then the only church was the one up in the castle, a long steep climb away, so services were held here while it was being built. Much of the cost was paid by navigators and ship captains, who gave the church part of their fortunes at the end of their voyages.

   

4. 4Chapel of Espírito Santo dos Mareantes

   The seafarers' and fishermen's guild of Sesimbra built this chapel in the 15th century, with a hospital below it. The 1755 earthquake damaged it badly, and digs in the 1970s found the old hospital, with drawings of ships on its walls. It is now a museum, and among its paintings is Our Lady of Mercy, attributed to Gregório Lopes.

   

5. 5Capela da Santa Casa da Misericórdia

   This small 16th-century chapel of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia has been altered many times. Its carved Mannerist portal faces the municipal garden, once the Misericórdia's field, and the churchyard holds 16th- and 17th-century tombstones, some for Sesimbra seafarers. Inside, the side walls are lined with chequered blue, green and white tiles from the late 16th century.

   

6. 6Fortress of Santiago

   This star-shaped fort on the beach was finished in 1648, during the war to restore Portuguese independence, to protect Sesimbra's fishing harbour. It replaced an earlier fort from the time of King Manuel I, and its design is credited to a Dutch Jesuit engineer, João Cosmander. Today it houses the Sesimbra Maritime Museum, about the sea, fishing and the fishing community.

   

Hear the full story as you walk, or create your own walk, in the Alleytale app.