Portugal (Sintra, Cascais) - April, 2011

If Lisbon is the political center of Portugal, then Sintra must be the cultural center! Never before we did see so many beautiful palaces in the same place! The day we spent in Sintra, we visited the Sintra National Palace, the Quinta da Regaleira Palace, and finally the Pena Palace.

Overall, Sintra is heavily influenced by Moorish culture. There are plenty of beautifully decorated Arab rooms in each of the palaces. It reminded us of Granada.

We first visited the Sintra National Palace, which is located at the foot of the moutain. The palace was used from the 15th to 19th century by the King. The palace has a simple white and yellow outside, and has many elaboratively designed rooms inside. What is most special about this palace is its huge kitchen. It has two huge chimneys that stands out from the rest of the Sintra town.

We also visited Quinta de Regaleira Palace, which is built by a wealthy man as his summer estate. The palace is huge, it includes a main building, a chapel and a huge garden. Alex and I walked in the garden for a long time and got completely lost. We walked and walked and walked and I was exhausted. >< We finally returned to the main building. The main building has many rooms, and each room was decorated differently, from the floor, ceiling, wall, and furniture. I loved watching the details of the ceiling. The ceiling often has stars and moons shaped carving. It reminds me of the turkish bath we often see in the Middle East.

Our final destination was the Pena Palace (yes, this is OUR palace!). The palace is located on the top of the hill, and has two parts: the Moorish castle, and the palace itself. The Moorish castle extends long walls across the moutains, and it looked very pretty. We climbed to the top of the castle and saw Sintra town from the top, including the two big chimneys from the National Palace. The top was quite windy, so we rested there for a while and climbed down again. I cannot tell the difference between Moorish and other castles...in fact, I think it looks quite similar to the great wall of China...jeje

And the finally, we went to the Pena Palace. I don't know if it is because of the name, or because of how the palace looked like, it feels like home! I visited many palaces, but this particular one, although not as big or glamorous as Versalle or El Pardo, gives a cozy and homey feeling. When you walk around this little palace, everything is pretty but nothing is overwhelming. I remember visiting the Queen's room and the Princess' room, and I saw that the furniture was well kept, and everything looked like it was just left behind. And I said to Alex, oh I can see a real Queen living here!

One day visiting 3 palaces was really exhausting...I think Alex and I are done with palaces for a while now. ^^