CABO ESPICHEL
38° 24′ 50.8″ N; 9° 13′ 20.8″ W
Cabo Espichel is a cape situated on the western coast of the civil parish of Castelo, municipality of Sesimbra, in the Portuguese district of Setúbal.
During the Middle Ages, various legends attracted people to the site; it was a crucible of Portuguese nationalism, when on 29 July 1180, in the square of Cabo Espichel, D. Fuas Roupinho was able to obtain the nation's first naval victory against the Moors.There are various legends associated with the cult of Nossa Senhora do Cabo, many contradictory, that situate the devotion during this time. It is possible that the cult resulted from the Christianization of other cults that appeared in the pre-history and continued to Moorish occupation. The cult, though, is certainly medieval dating from the 13th century, with the first references appearing in the 14th century (specifically in 1366) from a royal letter sent by King D. Pedro I.
Another medieval legend about the cape indicates that in 1215 a ship traveling to Lisbon was caught in a storm, tasking the crew. Haildebrat (the chaplain of the ship) decided to pray to an image, that he had in his cabin, but realized that it had disappeared. Desperate for divine intervention, they suddenly saw at the top of the cape a light, even during the height of the storm. Later, when they arrived on land, they encountered the disappeared image on the ship.
Cabo Espichel is situated on the western coast of Portugal, along an extension of approximately 100 kilometers (62 mi) that occupies a region called the Bacia Lusitânica (BL), that occurred during the opening of the North Atlantic during the Triassic.
Famous, are the several dinosaur fossil trackways exposed in some of the now tilted Jurassic strata which form the cape's cliffs. It is said that local superstition interpreted the trackways as the path taken by the Holy Virgin ("Nossa Senhora") when riding a giant mule from the ocean and up the cliffs, which led to the eventual construction of the convent at that location.
614 dinosaur footprints were discovered in Cabo Espichel located in an area of 1350 square meters, between Boca do Chapim and Areia do Mastro Beach.
The footprints, about 129 million years old, belonged to carnivorous dinosaurs (theropods - 93 footprints) and sauropod herbivores - 324 footprints; ornithopods - 197 footprints) from the Early Cretaceous Period.
Dinosaur footprints.
