Boca do Inferno

A touristy hyped natural spectacle with a history that no one tells.

A few minutes from Cascais city, you’ll find Boca do Inferno. The ”Mouth of Hell” is a rocky chasm where water powerfully crashes and waves are thrown onto the shore. In 1896, the first moving pictures of a cave ever were taken here: on a tour through Iberia, two English filmmakers wanted to demonstrate the superiority of a portable camera and shot ”A Sea Cave Near Lisbon” among other works. The footage shows a few minutes of waves from a single viewpoint. In London, this was celebrated alongside works like ”The Departure of the Duke of Braganza” and ”Women Fetching Water from the Nile.” Today, it may seem trivial, but back then it showcased the enormous potential of the new medium. Specifically, the perspective and the idea of ”framing” the waves through the cave were praised.

This story is probably even less known than the actual reason for the site’s modern prominence: in 1929, a very young and relatively unknown writer committed suicide in the water hole. A year later, the famous occultist Aleister Crowley staged his suicide here after a breakup, directed by the writer Fernando Pessoa, complete with a farewell letter — though in reality, he died almost 20 years later in England. Boca do Inferno remains wildly romantic, often marred by tourist groups taking selfies before frantically buying junk at the nearby market until the bus leaves. Across the road, there’s a tower ruin of the Tagus fortifications with the best view, if accessible.