the fort on the islet, fifteen kilometres from everything
There's a narrow arched bridge linking the island to the islet. On the other side, 17th-century stone that the Atlantic has never stopped battering. The crossing is short, but anyone making it immediately understands that this is not an inland fort, a continental escarpment or a quiet river: it's a fort built on granite rock, surrounded by sea on all sides, where every embrasure points directly at the water.
The Forte de São João Baptista is on the island of Berlenga Grande, about fifteen kilometres from Peniche, and you can only get there by boat. The plan is an irregular heptagonal polygon, adapted to the morphology of the islet rather than any academic model: eleven embrasures open to the sea, an internal corridor without natural light running through the structure, compartments that served as the command house, troop barracks, warehouses and kitchen. National Monument since 1938, it now operates as accommodation managed by the Associação dos Amigos da Berlenga.
the siege of 1666
The construction order came from D. João IV, in 1651. The work was finished in 1656. Ten years later, in June 1666, a Spanish fleet of fourteen warships and a caravel, commanded by Don Diogo Ibarra, besieged the fort. On the Portuguese side: fewer than twenty men and nine artillery pieces, under the command of Cabo Avelar Pessoa. Two days of bombardment. Result: five hundred dead and one ship sunk on the Spanish side; one dead and four wounded on the Portuguese side. The fort held. That's the episode that defines the place, more than any architectural detail.
The fortress was also involved in the French Invasions and the Liberal Wars, before losing military use in 1914. In the mid-20th century it was restored and operated as a luxury pousada from 1953 to 1971. The State later ceded it to the association that manages it today.
what you'll find
- the arched bridge linking the islet to the island, so narrow you can feel the water on both sides
- an internal corridor without windows running through the structure
- eleven embrasures with a direct view of the Atlantic
- Berlenga all around: granite, seabirds and water of an unusual colour
