Portugality*: Part I
*credit to Charlotte Ronemus for article title
While in Lisbon you must go to Sintra. The town is chock-a-block full of castles, palaces, and gardens, but if you can see only one thing (and that’s all we could), climb the cobblestone hill to Quinta Da Regaleira — a summer “home” which grew over time and through several owners to what it is today: a fabulous assemblage of styles and constructions that started in 1697; and then was finished in 1910 by the architect, Luigi Manini. There is not one column, statue or floor board that has escaped a beautiful death by decoration and every bit of that detailing has meaning… from the sacred to the alchemic. Unlike relics bought by national funding and opened to the public in the US, the town of Sintra has flung open the doors of this thoroughly engaging complex of gardens, wells, towers, living quarters, chapels and grottoes to the public to walk and explore where they please.
Yes, that green stuff is water…covered with a thick layer of algae
Yes, that green stuff is water…covered with a thick layer of algae
Even random rocks are decorated
Detail from dining room floor in the main house
Seven stories underground looking up
One of Aunt Tuddy’s cats
