First impressions of Sines are industrial, and it is best to admit that at once. There is a big deep-water port and a petrochemical complex on the coast, and the flare stacks and tanks are visible from some distance. Yet the old town beyond the plant, set on a low headland over a bay, is a pleasant, quiet place of white houses and a castle, and it has a great claim to fame: Vasco da Gama, the first European to sail to India by sea, was born here in the fifteenth century.
The castle overlooks the harbour and has a small museum, and there is a statue of the explorer nearby. The town sits at the northern end of the Costa Vicentina, the wild and mostly undeveloped coast of southwest Portugal, where cliffs, sandy coves and strong Atlantic swells are the norm. In July, Sines hosts a well-known world music festival, which fills the old town and the castle with people for several nights. The surrounding region is also known for its fresh fish and shellfish, and the harbour is a good place to eat them.
For riders, Sines is the start of a gentler kind of coastal road. South of the town the roads head through pine forest, farmland and low dunes towards Porto Covo, with the sea close by and the traffic light compared with the Algarve. The riding is more about long, relaxed stretches than hard cornering, and the straight sections can be exposed to a strong northerly wind in summer. Fog sometimes rolls in off the cold Atlantic, even on hot days, and the roads can become damp and slippery quickly. Mornings in spring and autumn are best.
With nearly thirteen thousand residents and a large port, Sines has full services: fuel, supermarkets, banks and restaurants. Santo André, about fourteen kilometres away, is another sizeable settlement, and Porto Covo is a small seaside village. If you stop in the old town, walk to the castle for the view across the bay and a quiet moment with the sea, before you go on south.