Beautiful, charming, enchanted Sintra Portugal
Sintra is a short train ride from Lisbon. It is only about 30 km west of Lisbon. But the feel of the town is completely different. I have been looking forward to visiting Sintra for a very long time. And it did not disappoint. I absolutely loved it!
Dave is getting good with his one arm photography.
Pena Palace built in 1836 for Prince Fernando II of Portugal. The palace and grounds are open to tour.
There is a beautiful trail to walk up Monte de Lua (Hill of the Moon) that goes to both the castle and Pena Palace. We enjoyed the views of Sintra from high on the hill, as well as the castle perimeter wall.
Moorish Castle up on the hill, overlooking Sintra.
In the foreground of the above photo you can see the Sintra National Palace with its enormous twin chimneys. It is one of the symbols of the town.
The Quinta de Regaleria Estate
António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, from Brazil, moved to Portugal and commissioned this amazing estate and grounds in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s.
This is just one of the many unique structures on the grounds. The center doorway above, has an entry to a long tunnel that leads to the middle section of the “Initiation well” or inverted tower.
The top of the well, is at ground level and there are stairs that go around and around 27 meters down to another tunnel.
Here we are at the top of the Initiation well.
And this is the bottom of the Initiation well.
We followed the tunnel at the bottom of the well and came out at another area of the grounds, behind a waterfall.
Stepping stones take you across the pond at the end of the tunnel.
Many unique castle like structures are scattered throughout the beautiful grounds. You never know what you will find as you walk along the many trails.
The inside of the mansion is also open to tour. It is very large and full of details. There are 5 levels and most all the rooms have amazing and unique inlaid wood patterns or tile patterns. Also the ceilings were quite ornate.
In the above photo, the floor looks like a rug, however, that is tiny detailed tile work.
There is a balcony at the top of the mansion with views of the park-like grounds and beyond.
This was a magical day! I cannot recommend Sintra highly enough.
Luie check out my train board on Pinterest you might just like it I made it for you.
wow. What an amazing place. I wonder what the living was like for the folks who couldn’t afford to build palaces? Beautiful picture of Dave and Nancy. You are really good at arm photography!
It was fun to walk through and see how the extremely rich lived. Long arms come in handy every once in a while, the photo turned out better than I expected.
Dave