Discovering Sintra

Thursday October 19 was cloudy with a bit of sun and a high of 19C.  We got up early as we were taking the Sandeman's Tour of Sintra.  In addition to their free city tours, Sandeman's had a paid day tour to Sintra, the resort town in the foothills of the Sintra Mountains, about 25km from Lisbon.  A longtime royal sanctuary, Sintra has a micro climate that makes it cooler than Lisbon and often foggy.  It is known for its many 19th-century Romantic villas, castles and royal retreats and estates.  There are many forested areas and it is very lush.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We met Pascal, our guide at the same spot we had met for our Free Tour, a five minute walk from our apartment.   We had a large group of about 20 people.  We  walked to the Rossi Train Station, about a 10 minutes from the meeting spot and not far from where we are staying.

En route to the station- beautiful flowering trees that we had noticed before

The Rossi train station had a series of tiles commemorating Portuguese products.  Coffee and Fruits were among those featured.

Coffee- definitely a Portuguese staple

Fruits

The train ride took about 40 minutes.  Our first stop was the Sintra Town hall, completed in 1910.  It follows the Portuguese Manueline style of architecture and includes false battlements and beautiful arched Neo-Manueline styled windows.

Sintra City Hall (Camara Municipal de Sintra)

We passed an interesting obelisk- lots of twists and ropes-- features of the Manueline style.

As we walked, we had glimpses of the many villas lodged in the Sintra hills.

We were heading to the Palacio Nacional, begun by Dom Joao I in the 15th century and used as a royal palace until the end of the 19th century.  The National Palace is distinguished by dramatic twin chimneys and elaborate tile work.

View of the National Palace with twin chimneys

Before we started the climb, we stopped for coffee and a Sintra baked goods specialty--Queijadas  de Sintra-- very small cheese cakes with cinammon .  We had them in a café called Fabrica das Verdadeiras Queijadas da Sapa- founded in 1756.

Ann with a croissant and the Queijadas da Sapa

We headed to a sculpture located in front of a small museum called the Museu Anjos Teixeira.  The sculpture was a piece done by Pedro Anjos Teixeira (1908-1997) called Os Perseguidos (The Persecuted) completed in 1969.  It commemorated those persecuted by the Salazar dictatorship.

Os Perseguidos

We continued our walk through the forest-- Sintra has a large number of imported trees and flowers.  The manipulation of nature was a theme of guide's discussion about the development of Sintra as a royal retreat.

Beautiful trumpet flowers

A number of the castles and palaces are not within walking distance.  We saw the Castelo dos Mouros, a Moorish castle begun in the 8th century.  Apparently, the views from the Castle are magnificent.  

View of the Castle of the Moors

Palácio da Pena- another Royal Palace built in the 19th century- apparently has a number of styles

Our guide indicated that after the tour, people could take transportation and visit either the Castle of the Moors or Pena Palace.

We passed a lovely Moorish style fountain with beautiful tiles.  It was built in the 19th century.

Fountain with cool water and beautiful decorative tiles

Another trumpet tree

Pascal was a very good guide - he was originally from London, but has lived in Portugal for a number of years  In addition to being a tour guide, he teaches pilates.

Pascal, our guide

We then reached our next destination- the National Palace.  Our guide pointed out that the supports on the building near the roof were an indication that the building was pre 1755 earthquake.

Outside of National Palace

Much of the palace dates from the times of King John I (Joao 1357-1433) who sponsored a major building campaign starting around 1415.  This is the palace with the twin chimneys of the kitchen that dominate the skyline of Sintra.  There was a plaque of Dona Filipa de Lencastre (1360-1415) (Philippa of Lancaster) who was Queen of Portugal from 1387-1415.   She was born into the royal family of England and her marriage to King John I secured the Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England.  Joao I was King of Portugal from 1385-1433.

Dona Filipa

We continued our climb, passing the villa that Madonna has just purchased.  It will need a lot of work!

Madonna's new digs in the background

Close up of Madonna's new villa

We stopped at Piriquita II for a light lunch.  The town of Sintra was packed with tourists.  We each had a nice soup and Alain and I shared a tomato salad and a tuna salad.

Lunch

The tour reconvened after lunch.  Pascal had bought the famous "pillow cakes" for folks who wanted them.

Alain with his "pillow cake"-- filled with almonds

It was then onto the piece de resistance-- the Quinta da Regaleira (Regaleira Estate) which had been the summer residence of the Carvalho Monteiro family built in the neo-manueline style.  After changing hands a number of times between 1697 and 1840 when it was bought by the Baroness da Regaleira in 1840 who transformed the property into an elegant summer retreat.  In 1893 it was sold at public auction to António Augusto de Carvalho Monteiro who added other parcels of land.  The Garden was designed around the turn of the century.  Building work was concentrated on the main house and chapel between 1904-11.  Carvalho Monteiro (1848-1920), was born in Rio de Janeiro.  He was of Portuguese descent and a celebrated capitalist.  Monteiro worked with Italian architect Luigi Manini.

The estate was bought by Waldemar Jara d'Orey in 1946 and in 1987 was sold to the Japanese corporation Aoki.  In 1997, the Municipality of Sintra acquired the property.  It reopened in 1998 after a program of restoration.   It is an incredible estate with many strange features.  The masonic "well of initiation" is totally bizarre.  There are underground grottos, lots of gargoyles and a neo-manueline palace and chapel.

Caretaker's building

Guardian cats

Lots of animals- wonderful Hare

Part of the Palace with the large pine tree behind it

The Palace--- Promenade of the Gods on the left- with statues of the classical gods.

The Chapel was beautiful- build in the Manueline style with scenes from the Life of Mary and Christ.  It also had an eye in the ceiling- a symbol of the Freemasons.

Outside of the Chapel

Eye in ceiling

Stained glass

Teresa of Ávila -a writer and ideal for Romantics

Pascal explaining about Saint Anthony with the shaved head

Lush gardens- lots of imported trees and plants

Detail of the palace with knots

Bacchus

Fountain with initials CM-- for Carvalho Monteiro

Turret

Exploring the Quinta

More details

We had a pilates break after lots of climbing and walking

The most amazing feature was the Initiation Well, which was never intended for water collection.  Rather, the wells were used for secretive initiation rites for Freemasons.  The spiral staircase symbolizes the death/rebirth allegory.  The well has nine platforms which represents the nine circles of Hell, the nine sections of Purgatory and the nine skies which constitute Paradise.  After descending 27 metres the well feature connects to a series of tunnels that run the length of the gardens.

Climbing down the spiral staircase- totally bizarre

Looking up the well to the sky.

We exited the Initiation well and crossed some water by a series of stepping stones.  A bit tricky-- the last step in the initiation.

Exiting the Initiation Well

Stepping Stones

The tour ended after we all walked back to the Palace and the outdoor café we had earlier passed.  We chatted with Pascal for a few minutes and then decided to have a coffee before heading back to the railway station.

A turtle on a column just outside the Palace

Intricate frog design 

We took the train back to Lisbon and had dinner at Oficina, a restaurant down the street from Ann's apartment and around the corner from ours.  It was nice being able to sit outside.  The food was very good.  Alain and I shared a delicious codfish with tomato rice and a lamb dish served with mint sorbet, while Ann and Grace shared the lamb dish and a pork dish. A dish of the mint sorbet was a very refreshing dessert.  I would call this new-Portuguese cuisine, with new spins on traditional cuisine.  The food was very good and we had a very nice bottle of red wine.

Outside of Oficina 

Cod with tomato rice

Lamb with couscous and mint sorbet

Ann and the pork dish

Cheers to Lisbon

It was a lovely dinner.  We were quite tired from walking the Sintra hills.  Luckily we were only minutes from our apartments.  Ann heads back to the Algarve on Friday.  It will be our last full day in Lisbon before heading back to Toronto very early on Saturday morning (October 21).   I will complete our final post from this trip when we get back to Toronto.