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| Palace de Rigaleira |
SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2007
We caught the bus to Sintra, which is a village in the hills where the Kings of Portugal would go as a summer retreat. The town was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995 and there is so much to see there that it would take at least a week! Having had such a tiring day yesterday we limited ourselves to just a couple of places to visit. The first was to the Palacio Nacional de Sintra, which was used as the royal summer palace until the 1880s. The Sala de Brasoes was the highlight, with a beautiful ceiling decorated with the coats of arms of 72 noble Portuguese families, and the walls lined with 18th century tiles.
After a leisurely lunch we visited the Quinta da Regaleira, which was built between 1904 and 1910 for an eccentric millionaire, Antonio Augusto Carvalho Moneiro. The chief architect was Luigi Manini, who had been an Italian scenery designer and the house, gardens and other buildings create a magical wonderland of eclectic architectural styles and weird symbolic sculptures.
Anna and Ken from Broadsword came round in the evening and we got through a few bottles of wine.
We caught the bus to Sintra, which is a village in the hills where the Kings of Portugal would go as a summer retreat. The town was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995 and there is so much to see there that it would take at least a week! Having had such a tiring day yesterday we limited ourselves to just a couple of places to visit. The first was to the Palacio Nacional de Sintra, which was used as the royal summer palace until the 1880s. The Sala de Brasoes was the highlight, with a beautiful ceiling decorated with the coats of arms of 72 noble Portuguese families, and the walls lined with 18th century tiles.
After a leisurely lunch we visited the Quinta da Regaleira, which was built between 1904 and 1910 for an eccentric millionaire, Antonio Augusto Carvalho Moneiro. The chief architect was Luigi Manini, who had been an Italian scenery designer and the house, gardens and other buildings create a magical wonderland of eclectic architectural styles and weird symbolic sculptures.
Anna and Ken from Broadsword came round in the evening and we got through a few bottles of wine.
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