Leg 20 - Sines Portugal

On the Costa Alentejana Sines is an old fishing town best known in Portugal as the birthplace of the explorer Vasco da Gama. His statue stands proudly beside the walls of the castle in which he grew up, and the museum inside recounts the life of this national hero. Now, Sines is making waves as Portugal’s top container port, which is separated from the old quarter in a gigantic industrial enclave along the shore.

The town’s most famous son was born here sometime in the 1460s, though nobody can agree on the exact day or where in Sines he was delivered.

Vasco da Gama earned his place in history during his voyage to India between 1497 and 1499, becoming the first European to get to India by sea, expanding the Portuguese Empire, opening up world trade and ushering in the colonial era.

Castelo De Sines

World explorers.

The hill the castle sits on has been settled since the Palaeolithic era, but the castle is only from the 15th-century. That’s the reason the building is quite compact, as the streets around it had long been plotted when it was built and it had to adapt to that shape. The keep is three storeys tall, and the handsome mullioned window at the top is original. Not long after construction its warden was Estêvão da Gama, father of Vasco.

We meet back up with 45North's sister boat Wakalele (Hull 104 with New Zealanders Stephen and Anne-Mie)

Janine - Anne-Mie - Stephen

Overlooking the fishing boats on the other side of the harbour. Spectacular views from the castle.

Stephen and Anne-Mie heading to shore with us to go biking.

"You can Wakalele but you can't hide" was the saying.

Love the vibrant colors of spring in Portugal.

The locals claimed this was a famous family. Our invite is probably in our mailbox back home!

Salude to the love of my life.

We came across the filming of a Portuguese movie. Looked like a love story. We couldn't find out much about the name of it and the actors looked local.

Here is the trailer of the movie that we are in.