Lagos City
In Lagos everything seems to invite to the beach and the simple pleasures. But there is also a history of navigators and pirates, the result of complicity with the sea that persists in the colorful trawlers that bring the fish to the auction, or in the Marina where yachts from all over the world swing.
This connection to the sea had its highest point in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, because it was in Lagos that Infante D. Henrique armed the caravels that reached the coast of Africa, beginning the epic of the Portuguese Discoveries, and from where Gil Eanes, the navigator who demonstrated that the world did not end in Cape Bojador and that the sea was not populated by monsters.
Although erected on previous constructions, are of this time some of the main monuments, such as the Castle of Governors. Or the city walls and Ponta da bandeira fort that protected it from the invaders, especially the privateers, and that nowadays offer beautiful panoramas over the house and the sea. It was also in Lagos, under the arcades of Praça Infante D. Henrique, that the first slave market in Europe was held, a space now transformed into a cultural center with exhibitions and sale of handicrafts.
But there’s so much more to see. On a journey through the streets of the historic center we discover the charm of this secular city, noting the stonework of the doors and windows, the wrought irons of the balconies and the patios that guarantee freshness in summer. Or in the Church of St. Anthony that surprises us by the richness of its interior covered with gilded carvings and tiles, to which adds the curiosity of the image of the saint who gives him name to have the rank of lieutenant general, promotion won by this temple having served as a chapel of the Infantry Regiment. Next door, the Municipal Museum has interesting nuclei of archeology and sacred art.
And we can’t help but delight in its gastronomy. Fish and seafood are the main ingredients of various delicacies: from snacks with clams, perceves, roe or octopus, from soups and açordas, or specialties such as mackerel and stuffed squid. Sweets are another high point, especially the gift-rodrigos, recipe of the nuns of the Convent of Our Lady of Carmo.