PORTUGAL TOURS
This description of Lisbon and surroundings (Sintra, Estoril, Cascais, Sesimbra) was made to accompany the movie we made. Since the movie is accompanied by typical sounds like environmental sounds, Portuguese talking, birds, animals, music, etc, we didn’t want to spoil the sound and the explanation goes apart. Enjoy it.
Index:
SINTRA
1-Sintra (Introduction)
2-Sintra (Moorish castle)
3-Sintra (Pena Palace)
4-Sintra (Sintra National Palace)
5-Sintra (Generalities)
6-Sintra (Mafra Monastery-Palace)
7-Sintra (Queluz palace)
SINTRA
1-Sintra (Introduction)
We leave Lisbon and we go to the mountain where, as an ancient legend tells, was the last dwelling place of Christ before ascending to the sky. The name is Sintra.
Sintra is 30 km away from the capital. Stormy and mysterious, Sintra has a volcanic origin and is a typical place with all the beauty of the countryside.
Here, a gentleman called Franco, made miniatures of the countryside. It shows us how life was in the past in the villages and small towns with its characteristic features.
2-Sintra (Moorish castle)
At the top of the mountain, the moors made a castle in the 8-century. Although the walls were restored 1100 years later, it has all it’s original arrangement.
We can see the ocean from here, about 30 km to the west, when the weather is clear, enjoying a very cool breeze, even during the hot summers of this country. We can also enjoy a nice view over the rest of the countryside.
This was the place where the Celts came to adore the moon, the place where in nights of full moon, all women turn men and men wolf men…
But not only Celts came up here. Barbarians and Romans were in Sintra. It was even inhabited during pre-history and many remains were found dating from our ancestors. They came because of the hunting existing in this forests, the nice weather and the mineral water that can ill several diseases.
More than one thousand years ago, the moors excavated subterranean passages from this castle to some parts of the mountain and it is said that still in one of them, still exists their precious treasure, under the ruins.
3-Sintra (Pena Palace)
Close by this castle, also at the peak of the mountain, 500 meters high, there is Pena palace, started in 1840, the last royal palace built in Portugal.
It was ordered by king Ferdinand II of saxe-coburg-gotha, a king of German origin, and in fact, it is inspired in German castles.
It’s in romantic style, which tries to revive the styles of the past, and apart from the German influence, we can see other styles mixed together. Arab, Indian and other eastern influences mix with the Portuguese manueline style, the embroidery in stone, telling us about the fantasy so characteristic of this period, when kings used to dream of the past.
There are also splendid views from this palace, at a very calculated position in the mountain, as the palace itself can only be seen from faraway, when it is not foggy.
This worked as one of the places of refuge for the royalty, when it started loosing power in Portugal.
It’s an appropriate place for meditation, as the hyeronimyte monks had already a convent on the place of this palace. The convent was destroyed by a thunderbolt. It’s a stormy place because of the iron existing in this mountain.
One of the curiosities in this palace is a window supported by one of the images of the past: the monster, which used to defy the Portuguese caravels on their way to the East.
About 200 meters from the palace, at the top of a cliff, there is the statue of the German architect dressed as a warrior, von Esvegen, turned to the palace, like a knight of the round table, to which legend king Ferdinand was also dedicated. This was the Salvation Mountain for them.
The interior is comfortable and is also a showcase of different styles. It’s like a fairy tale where kings used to amuse themselves.
One of the striking features of the palace, combined in the mixture of several styles, is the oriental influence, and among many others, the Arab ones, like the domes that we can see from faraway anywhere in the mountain.
4-Sintra (Sintra National Palace)
Further down there is another palace built almost 450 years before Pena Palace. It has 2 chimneys, 33 meters high each, as inside royal banquets were prepared after the royal chasing, here in the forests of Sintra.
The interior has the oldest collection of glazed tiles in Portugal, made in the 15 and 16 centuries. It was mostly a summer palace and glazed tiles from different periods keep rooms cool and work as a museum of tiles in a palace where we can see the curious structure of a medieval construction. This was the palace where Portuguese kings organized maritime expeditions and received navigators returning from their trips, like Columbus, Vasco da Gama and many others. They also came to run away from the plagues in Lisbon in the middle of a luxuriant vegetation and a healthy mineral water.
This is the most ancient royal palace there is in Portugal and was the summer dwelling place of the court since the 14 century, because of the coolness and mild temperature of the mountain during the hot summers and the proximity of the ocean.
5-Sintra (Generalities)
All the court had a dwelling here. Lots of palaces were built, each one in a very particular style, matching the variety and originality of the vegetation. We have here hundreds of different species of plants, some of them that can hardly be found in other places in the world. This inspired several artists who called Sintra the glorious Eden, the garden of Europe, the garden of paradise…
6-Sintra (Mafra Monastery-Palace)
On the other side of the mountain, there was a huge construction made from 1717 to 1730. In 13 years, Mafra Monastery was built, just because the wife of the very rich Portuguese king, John V, gave him a child. In homage to his wife childbirth the king offered this Monastery to the Franciscans but kept a part as a royal palace. So, it’s Monastery and palace.
It’s all in marble and there are 4.500 doors and windows, and 114 bells in the bell-towers, the 2 heaviest ones weighting 12 tons each.
There are beautiful statues in Carrara marble made by the school of artists who came to work here under the direction of a German architect.
The Church of this huge Monastery is also astonishing. It is inspired in the one of saint Peter in Rome, and its 65 meters long and is all made of marble of several colors. Much of the marble came from this region of Portugal but also from Italy.
There are 6 organs from the 19-century, in bronze and Brazilian wood, among the most valuable in the world. Each one has 2000 lead pipes.
The dome is 70 meters high, the highest and most beautiful in Portugal and among one of the most graceful in the world. The acoustics are excellent and to inaugurate this church there was a mass which lasted 24 hours.
The rooms are also huge. Monks used to dwell together with the Monarchy, since this was not only a Monastery but also a royal palace. For them, there were 900 different rooms. The longest corridor is 250 meters long. The library is 90 meters long and has 40.000 books, some of them dating from the 15 and 16 centuries.
7-Sintra (Queluz)
Queluz Palace is half way between Lisbon and Sintra. It’s in the place of a former palace, which was restored in the end of the 18-century, in rocaille style, imitating Versailles in France. The garden was designed by a French artist who was also inspired in Versailles. The sensual statues tell about life of the court in a period when the monarchy was on the verge of a radical revolution.
But it’s inside that we feel Versailles influence, with its mirrors on walls and doors and a fine gilt woodwork. The court came here to ball and listen to music. Famous opera singers came here to sing.
The interior shows a decoration that was in all appropriate to a summer palace and a place where the court enjoyed the fine arts. Eastern influences like Chinese jars, silk on the walls and oriental design go well with Portuguese and French furniture and tapestries, and Italian chandeliers with Portuguese glazed tiles on the walls… Also much of the furniture comes from France, since this palace was made when all monarchs were following Luis XIV of France.
The rooms are not to large, but they are bright and sparkling, considering that there is not even one without a window and the light enhances the beauty of furniture with the silk on the walls as background. That’s because rocaille style tries to be as delicate as possible.
All kings and presidents visiting Portugal nowadays stay in this palace and, by the way, Napoleon was also here.