Sintra

On Saturday, we headed out of Lisbon to explore the town of Sintra. Located only about a 45 minute drive from Lisbon, Sintra is where the rich and the royals used to "summer" to escape Lisbon's heat and humidity. The town of Sintra is on UNESCO's World Heritage List due to the 19th century Romantic architecture.


The Palácio Nacional de Sintra was our first stop. Inhabited by royals from the 15th through 19th centuries, Moorish rulers initially lived here and influenced the design of the building and interiors. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to get a good picture of my favorite architectural feature - the conical twin chimneys. The chimneys come from the monk's kitchen and looking up through them, you can see straight to the sky.

By far, the neatest thing we saw/did during our whole vacation in Portugal was here in Sintra. Our friends had previously "discovered" the Quinta da Regaleira, a manor and gardens that seemed to get nothing more than a passing phrase or two in most of the guidebooks we had on hand. A mixed blessing as we were grateful for the lack of crowds but sad that more people don't have this on their "must-see" list for Sintra.


So this estate passed through many rich people's hands over the years. However, it's most notable transformation ocurred when it was owned by eccentric Brazilian millionaire Antonio Carvalho Monteiro. He hired Italian architect Luigi Manini to help him design and hide hidden symbols and tunnels throughout the four hectare estate. Alchemist, Masonic, and Knights of Templar (yes, the DaVinci Code kind) symbols and mythology are scattered all over the estate.

But the tunnels, oh yes, tunnels are SO COOL. The fact that the three of us were alone for the bulk of the day made it even better. The estate is so big, we rarely ran into other tourists (and there weren't that many to start with). All day, we never saw a single staff person and could basically wander at will. It made me wish I was 12 again and able to play a killer game of hide n seek. So there are a few tunnels and they are (mostly) marked on the map we got at the entrance. The biggest one is way underground and we had to descend a spiral staircase to get there. See:

And from the bottom:


Since our friend had been here before, we came prepared with two flashlights. Unlike this type of thing in the State, where you'd have lit tunnels, a handicapped elevator, and periodic staff members pre-positioned, we climbed through small tunnels and found out where different paths led. One fork in the road led to a fountain that we'd passed earlier, having no idea that a cave was hidden behind it.


Another cave led to a hidden grotto, with water covered by green moss. Conviently placed stepping stoned allowed us to cross over the water and climb up to a stone bridge. Here, we ran into some German tourists who had come from a different path. We shared information on our routes so that both of our groups could continue exploring.



Sintra is known for its micro-climate several degrees cooler than Lisbon and nowhere is the climate change more evident than in the gardens of the Quinta da Regaleira. With exotic flowers and trees imported from Brazil,the plant life is lush and colorful.


The on-grounds chapel's exterior is constructed to imitate the palace and decorated with frescos and stained glass windows.


When we came to the palace itself, it proved to be even more deserted than the grounds. It felt a little erie, like we were intruding in someone's home or in a museum after-hours, but very cool. There were some ornate details, like this door:


The palace itself is decorated in Gothic detail with pinnacles and gargoyles. There are five floors inside and an impressive octoganal tower.


After we had exhausted all secret gardens, tunnels, and caves, headed back into Sintra town proper, passing these pretty frescos along the way and stopping for a yummy cinnamon pastry.

With daylight fading quickly, we had to choose between visiting the Palácio Nacional da Pena and the Castelo dos Mouros (Castle of the Moors). Since the weather was a bit iffy and the Moorish Castle is mostly outdoors, we went for the Pena National Palace.


More hills! For two euros, there was a bus we could take from the entrance grounds to the castle itself. By this point, no hill was too steep for us though and we decided to tackle it head on. The castle stands on a hill so high that on a clear day, it can be seen from Lisbon. Construction of the castle began after an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the late 1400s. For centuries, it was a monastery that housed a maximum of 18 monks. However, between being struck by lightening in the 18th century and the Lisbon earthquake, this monastery was reduced to rubble. Rebuilt to the present-day palace in the mid-1800s, King Ferdinand and Queen Maria II made the architectural decisions that incorporated Medieval and Islamic elements, like minarets!


The original colors of the exterior were the yellow and red of present day. However, somewhere along the line they faded to grey. Apparently, when the Portuguese government repainted over the gray, a lot of locals were outraged, not remembering that the bright colors were actually the originals!


We toured through the interior (where no photographs were permitted). As the palace was a summer home for the royal Portuguese family, the interior was lush and as extravagently decorated as the outside. We then made our way to the exterior walls to catch a view of Sintra. A break in the gray and fog allowed us to see clear to the sea. We also have the benefit of overlooking the Moorish Castle, definitely the best view in town.


With perfect timing, it started to rain as we got in the car to head back to Lisbon. We returned to Thanksgiving leftovers and a quiet last evening with our friends.