The school ship Sagres, manned by cadets in their 2nd year at the Portuguese Naval Academy, and which will be Portugal’s hospitality house during the 2016 Olympic Games, became the first ship of the Portuguese Navy to receive an award from a foreign country, the “Honour Star “of the Republic of Cape Verde, upon reaching the African republic of ten islands on its journey to the Brazilian capital.

On the journey to Rio de Janeiro, Cape Verde was the ship’s first stop, where it docked in Praia, the Republic’s capital, on Santiago Island. Before reaching Brazil it will also stop in Recife, between 19 and 22 July, and Salvador de Bahia, on 26 – 28 July. It will then reach Rio de Janeiro, where it will remain from 3 to 22 August. At all these ports the Sagres will be open to visitors, and it is expected that it will be visited by about 10,000 people per day.

At the ceremony, attended by Cape Verde’s Minister of Defence Luis Filipe Tavares and his Portuguese colleague Marcos Perestrello, as well as the President of the Olympic Committee of Portugal (COP) José Manuel Constantino and Olympic Champion and Vice-President of the COP Rosa Mota, the Sagres was distinguished as a national symbol of Portugal and for being “a true floating embassy of peace, fraternity and tolerance”, as well as a supporter of the Portuguese language, history and culture.

In Rio de Janeiro the Sagres will host official receptions, offering a wide variety of Portuguese dishes and also Portugal’s best national wines, including the famed Caldo Verde, Bacalhau à Brás and Pastel de Nata.

After the Olympics the Sagres will return to Lisbon, stopping again in Cape Verde, this time in Mindelo, on Sao Vicente Island, from 10 to 12 September. Arrival in Lisbon is scheduled for September 25, ending a 97-day journey.