Portugal 2016 05 02 Walking and Sightseeing in Historic Sintra

Today might be called a two palace day.  We took a bus from the hotel to a town called Sintra which has at least three castles/palaces to visit.  We managed 2.

In the morning, we visited the Palace of Pena.  To quote the brochure: “ The Park and the Palace of Pena are the finest examples of nineteenth century Portuguese Romanticism and the integration of natural and built heritage.  They constitute the most important part of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra’s World Heritage site.”  The builders of Pena are Queen Maria II (1819-53) and King Ferdinand II (1819-95).  In medieval times, the site was a chapel, in 1503 it was a convent, in 1755 it suffered serious damage in the great earthquake, and ultimately declined.  In 1838, Ferdinand II bought the site and began recuperation of the previous ruins and construction of the “New Palace”.  I am writing all this verbiage to try to make sense of it myself, because my impressions waver between that of Disneyland and the home of really really really rich people.

The third picture is the elaborate carving above the grand entrance, a portent of the things to come.

The dining room had elaborate china and sterling silver.

Note the carved stone work on the walls behind the modest chandelier.

The kitchen was obviously only for the working serfs since there were no mosaic tiles nor carving on the pillars.

Contrast that to the royal bed in an ornately decorated room.

The town of Sintra was crawling with tourists today, and I cannot begin to imagine what things are like in high season in the summer.  The bus ride to the next palace was literally hair-raising as we rattled along narrow cobbled roads approximately the width of the bus.  That would have been fine except for the fact that the road handled two-way traffic.  We had several stare-offs with small cars, a certain amount of reversing happening on both sides, and a seemingly huge number of blind corners.  Getting back to a major road was a tremendous relief.

To quote from the second brochure:  “In 1856 the Palace of Monserrate was fully rehabilitated, under the supervision of English Architect James T. Knowles, into the summer residence of the Cook Family.  Taking the ruins of Gerald de Visme’s NeoGothic mansion as its starting point, the building is a unique example of the eclectic spirit of the nineteenth century.”

I do not have much in the way of pictures because this place is undergoing restoration, and the work is painstaking.

The picture below is that of the carved wooden door to the library.

Look at the detailed work on the arches, and the polished red marble of the columns. Everything here is intricate craftmanship, regardless of the medium.

Still, there are requirements for modern convenience, which requires some workarounds.

There is always something of the unexpected here.