Sintra
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Out on the train to Sintra, setting for some wonderful picturesque countryside dotted with gothic castles straight out of a Grimm fairy tale. The last kings of Portugal lived here until the country dispensed with such anachronistic practices just before World War One.
You would have thought they would have seen trouble coming from their perch on top of the hill as the views are stupendous. Well worth the long steep climb up from the valley below.
Part of the estate is an old Moorish castle, with its ramparts studies with a myriad of different flags from the region. Inside the estate at the top are the rooms where the royal family lived and where they entertained, left much the same as they were in 1910, complete with all mod cons such as a plumbed in bathroom.
At the bottom of the hill another palace full of antique treasure and noisy students.
You would have thought they would have seen trouble coming from their perch on top of the hill as the views are stupendous. Well worth the long steep climb up from the valley below.
Part of the estate is an old Moorish castle, with its ramparts studies with a myriad of different flags from the region. Inside the estate at the top are the rooms where the royal family lived and where they entertained, left much the same as they were in 1910, complete with all mod cons such as a plumbed in bathroom.
At the bottom of the hill another palace full of antique treasure and noisy students.