Years ago when we were traveling in Northeast Spain I wanted to drive the 10 km. to the border with Portugal just so we could add another country to our count. From the back seat came a chorus of "No, no we don't want to drive anymore" and that sentiment was seconded by the handsome guy doing the driving so we didn't get to add Portugal to our list. Now I'm glad we didn't because we had a perfect excuse to plan a quick trip to Portugal on our recent jaunt to the Iberian peninsula and we loved it! We spent two days in the quaint little town of Sintra. A wonderful tourist destination!
A magical hilltop palace built by King Ferdinand, a cousin of "Mad King Ludwig" of Disneyesque Neuschwanstein fame.
And finally the 15th century palace of King John with its, according to my guide book, Madonna bra chimneys! The whole kitchen is essentially the fireplace with a spit large enough to roast a whole cow.
Loved this unique ceiling. It seems that King John was caught kissing a lady-in-waiting by his queen. Frustrated by the court's gossiping, he had this ceiling painted with magpies. But just to show what a good-spirited guy he was, around each magpie is painted the king's slogan -'por bem', "for good".
We thoroughly enjoyed Sintra!
A Moorish Castle built a thousand years ago and taken by Christian forces in 1147
A magical hilltop palace built by King Ferdinand, a cousin of "Mad King Ludwig" of Disneyesque Neuschwanstein fame.
It is a crazy neo-fortified fantasy castle with Gothic towers, Renaissance domes, Moorish minarets and a disney playfulness.
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