Portugal Part 1- Sintra 2007
Greetings,
As usual, I have been lazy... so let me not waste time giving the usual excuses for my tardiness. I am going to share a few pictures of a lovely place in Portugal that I had the pleasure of visiting.
Sintra is a beautiful old town about an hours drive from Lisbon. There's almost too much to see in this area... There's the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, the Palacio Nacional de Sintra, Pena Palace and Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle!).. there's also the Sintra Mountain Range, which is quite nice.
Unfortunately, we only had a day and hungry bellies, so we decided to spend our limited time checking out the colourful Pena Palace.
The Palace is the finest example of 19th century Portuguese Romanticism and the integration of natural and built heritage (It's good I kept the brochure). It was built by Dona Maria II (1819-1853), who was the Queen of Portugal at the time, and Don Fernando II (1819-1885) who I think was the creative genius behind the palace... from what I have read, it appears as though he went for a walk one day, fell in love with the area, and decided to build something grand.
The palace itself is perched on top of some huge rocks which you can see jutting out at different points. Prince Fernando decided that not only did he want to build a magnificent Palace, he also wanted to surround it with the most varied and exotic plant life that he could find. This is complemented by the Palace itself, which was put together in a number of different styles (neo-Gothic, neo-Manueline, neo-Islamic, neo-Renaissance, and others).. (Ok that's what Wikipedia says, but I have to say that I totally agree)... Each room in the palace was built in a different style/fashion... unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside... so you'll have to go and see for yourself.
Ok, enough blathering... here are some pics!
For this very important trip I was escorted by a group of distinguished "Tugas", Andrea,Carina, Nini, and Catarina.
It looks like something from Disney Land doesn't it?
Yes yes.. there go my hobbitsss
As you can see it was still a bit early in the morning for some people..
Here we are inside... there's a square courtyard in the middle... Reminded me of the Andalusian villa style... with the fountain in the middle..
This reminds me of that movie Labyrinth.. with David Bowe I think..
We are somewhere deep in the Palace now... heading towards the gigantic kitchen... The corridor got progressively smaller.. but interspersed with small windows with marvelous views of the mountains..
A view of the Atlantic... we were not far from the furthest Western point of Europe.
Do you see the Castle in the distance? That's the Castelo dos Mouros... or the Moorish Castle.. built by the Moors in the 9th or 10th century.. anyways, dinner is ready so I will have to stop here.. but I hope that this little glimpse can give you an idea of why Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage site..
Stay tuned for Part 2.. hopefully I won't take another year to post.
As usual, I have been lazy... so let me not waste time giving the usual excuses for my tardiness. I am going to share a few pictures of a lovely place in Portugal that I had the pleasure of visiting.
Sintra is a beautiful old town about an hours drive from Lisbon. There's almost too much to see in this area... There's the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, the Palacio Nacional de Sintra, Pena Palace and Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle!).. there's also the Sintra Mountain Range, which is quite nice.
Unfortunately, we only had a day and hungry bellies, so we decided to spend our limited time checking out the colourful Pena Palace.
The Palace is the finest example of 19th century Portuguese Romanticism and the integration of natural and built heritage (It's good I kept the brochure). It was built by Dona Maria II (1819-1853), who was the Queen of Portugal at the time, and Don Fernando II (1819-1885) who I think was the creative genius behind the palace... from what I have read, it appears as though he went for a walk one day, fell in love with the area, and decided to build something grand.
The palace itself is perched on top of some huge rocks which you can see jutting out at different points. Prince Fernando decided that not only did he want to build a magnificent Palace, he also wanted to surround it with the most varied and exotic plant life that he could find. This is complemented by the Palace itself, which was put together in a number of different styles (neo-Gothic, neo-Manueline, neo-Islamic, neo-Renaissance, and others).. (Ok that's what Wikipedia says, but I have to say that I totally agree)... Each room in the palace was built in a different style/fashion... unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside... so you'll have to go and see for yourself.
Ok, enough blathering... here are some pics!
For this very important trip I was escorted by a group of distinguished "Tugas", Andrea,Carina, Nini, and Catarina.
It looks like something from Disney Land doesn't it?
Yes yes.. there go my hobbitsss
As you can see it was still a bit early in the morning for some people..
Here we are inside... there's a square courtyard in the middle... Reminded me of the Andalusian villa style... with the fountain in the middle..
This reminds me of that movie Labyrinth.. with David Bowe I think..
We are somewhere deep in the Palace now... heading towards the gigantic kitchen... The corridor got progressively smaller.. but interspersed with small windows with marvelous views of the mountains..
A view of the Atlantic... we were not far from the furthest Western point of Europe.
Do you see the Castle in the distance? That's the Castelo dos Mouros... or the Moorish Castle.. built by the Moors in the 9th or 10th century.. anyways, dinner is ready so I will have to stop here.. but I hope that this little glimpse can give you an idea of why Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage site..
Stay tuned for Part 2.. hopefully I won't take another year to post.
Posted by Sylo at 2:29 PM::
4 Comments::
