Today was the day I've been looking
forward to the most. We went to bed early last night (in other words,
on time) and got up early go get to the Pena Palace and Moorish
castle before the crowds. We were so confident in our earliness that
we drove to the top of the mountain, and we gambled right because
there was lots of parking. The road was really narrow, steep, and
winding. I would hate to be a horse in the old times pulling
something up those roads.
First we went to the Moorish castle,
which I think was originally built in the 1100's. It has been
restored a lot since Emily was there. It was interesting because the
restoration had a wood theme, kind of like in a sauna. So in some
places they restored old ruined buildings in the castle, but instead
of using stone for the restored parts, they used beautiful wood. It
was tasteful and helped things seem ruined still while giving places
to offer services, and that method was a much better option than
building new buildings among the old ones, I think. Archeologists had
excavated some areas near the castle walls and found foundations of
old Moorish homes that the castle walls had been built over. It was
crazy thinking these stones were put here by people 1000 years ago.
They also restored an old church, which was built at the castle after
the castle was conquered from the Moors, or they said it may have
been converted from a mosque. The restored church had the same wood
thing going on, and it was very beautiful, but very simple. A
contrast to most of the churches we've seen so far. We counted stairs
going up to the top, and it was 184. On the way down, we took another
route and counted 200ish, and then forgot to keep counting. Emily did
great for this part.
Next we went to the Pena Palace, which
was built by the queen of Portugal (and her husband, who was a
prince-- he would only become a king if the queen died. Weird, huh?).
The Pena Palace is a huge castle/palace on top of the hill next to
and higher than the hill the Moorish Castle is on. Surrounding the
Pena Palace is a huge garden/forest. The palace is full of unique,
strange architecture and lots of colors. We didn't plan to go into
the palace in order to save money, but combining admission to the
castle, gardens, and palace was the same price as just the castle and
the gardens, so we got a ticket to go inside. Half of the walk
through the palace is outside, winding through arches, along the tops
of walls, across terraces and balconies, and the other half is a path
through the royal rooms and some galleries of royal collections. It's
all very impressive. They were restoring some of the rooms, and it
was interesting to watch the workers carefully do the detailed work
of restoring old wall tiles. My favorite room was a study where all
of the furniture was very finely carved ebony. There was a stand of
drawers, two tables and four chairs. Each one must have taken the
wood carver a year. The Pena Palace has amazing views of Sintra and
the towns beyond to the ocean.
Finally we walked through the gardens
surrounding the palace. At this point we were starting to get very
tired. I was carrying Daniel in the baby carrier this whole time
except for a bit of him walking at the castle, and Emily was carrying
the not-yet-birthed child. Plus a heavy camera and a little backpack
with diapers and water. The garden is a huge maze. Every path leads
to a little stone house of arches or a pool or a statue. The foliage
is huge cedar and oak trees, large boulders, and vines with moss
covering everything. We tried to find the hermit's grotto, but got
lost on meandering pathways, but instead found the queen's favorite
spot to sit. A nice chair had been carved into the rock on the side
of a hill, and it had a beautiful view of the Pena Palace and its
hill. Our map told us the queen liked to come here and sit. 600 years
ago. The more cultivated parts of the garden/estate are full of
plants from around the world, planted back when Portugal was a major
player in exploring the world. There is a huge fern garden, and it
was interesting to see where they all originated.
When Daniel finally woke up and I
didn't have to carry him, we got a bit of a second wind. We walked
along a series of ponds that feed each other in a row. There were
swans in the ponds, and Daniel was very excited about them. Quack
quack! Also the fish.
When we made it back to our car, we had
been walking for 7 and a half hours. We found a new restaurant based
on the woman at the cafe below our apartment's recommendation and
ordered bacalhau com natas and roast beef. This bacalhau com natas
was very good, Emily said, and so was the roast beef. She said the
only way bacalhau com natas can be better is if someone makes it at
their house. We've noticed that the food at restaurants here tastes a
lot more home-cooked than in the States. If it tastes this good in
the States, it's usually super expensive. But maybe it's just all
this exercise.
We found a great way to make Daniel
behave at restaurants, which is to play Pingu on the tablet. He turns
into a little angel/zombie. He was so tired tonight, because his two
naps were very meager.
That castle looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteFood looks fantastic too!