On a lofty point on the Lüderitz Peninsula, Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 erected a padrão or stone cross on his homeward voyage to Portugal, after he had rounded the Cape of Good Hope. A replica now stands on the spot, known as Diaz Point, with the original kept -- as found, in pieces -- in museums in Cape Town and Lisbon. Seen from a sailing boat at sea, Diaz Point gains its true perspective, a rocky headland with its back to the desert. A colony of Cape fur seals lives at the foot of the point.