Lisbon - Sintra Travel Guides | Lisbon | Sub Regions | Lisbon - Sintra

Poets have raved and pagans have revelled in the Elysian Fields of Sintra, one of the oldest places in Portugal, recaptured from the Moors in 1147. It’s a truly ethereal landscape where castles rise from the mists of emerald mountain ranges. On sloping terraces, carpeted with lush pine forests, erupts a rhapsody of Bavarian kitsch in the form of the slapstick Palácio da Pena, the epitome of 19th-century decadence. In the valley, the cobblestone streets of quaint Sintra Vila, the old quarter, fan into Moorish courtyards, festooned with flowers and palms – all very chocolate box, but none-the-less alluring.

The tourist magnet is the sublime Palácio Nacional, steeped in Arabian myticism, Shakespearean dramas and the imprint of cavorting kings. Close by, in Estefania, the wonderful world of Warhol is on display, part of the Berardo collection. Around Sintra, the stunning Quinta da Regaleira, with mystical grottos, reels with tales of alchemy and masonic mythology. Monserrate, a blend of imperial exotica and Victoriana, is where England’s richest brought rituals, romance and lashings of kitsch.

There is a tourist office at the train station and in the centre of Sintra Vila on Praça da República. Further information, http://www.cm-sintra.pt Sintra is less than 30 km from Lisbon. Trains run from Rossio every 15 mins, journey time around 45 mins, stopping at Queluz after 20 min. E2.20 return trip. The Stagecoach bus (number 434) runs a circular service every 20 mins from Sintra train station through Sintra Vila and then up the mountain to the Palácio da Pena and Castelo dos Mouros. Flat flare is E3.80. It takes a good hour to walk up to the palace. Alternatively the day rover ticket, E6.50, can be used on the Stagecoach services which connect Sintra with Cascais (45 mins) and the beaches of Guincho.

Sights

Largo Rainha D Amélia, T 219 23 00 85. 1000-1300 and 1400-1700. Closed Wed. Last admission is 30 mins before close. E3.

The two gargantuan conical chimneys of the National Palace dominate Sintra’s skyline. Classified a national monument, this 14th-century building is the finest medieval royal palace in Portugal, a palpable symbol of the power of the Avis Dynasty which reigned during Portugal’s Golden Age (1385-1580). Layered with history and oozing Arabian mystique, the palace provided the backdrop for royal intrigue and courtly shenanigans before the cry of freedom for the republic in 1910.

A fantastical hotch potch of Moorish, Gothic and Manueline architectural styles, each tendency was grafted onto the original structure according to the whim of each successive monarch. The Magpie Room, Stag Room and Swan Room should form a hurried snap-shot visit and are best visited very early in the morning, or late afternoon, to avoid the masses.

Beginning on the ground floor, the Sala das Pegas (Magpie Room) features 140 magpies which strut across the octagonal panels of the ceiling. Unconventional lothario King João I (1357-1433), known as the ‘kissing king’, showed a similar lack of restraint with the ladies as he did with his architectural vision and royal equity, building whatever he fancied, however he fancied. The story goes that when his royal highness was caught cavorting with a lady-in- waiting, the courtly gossips didn’t waste much time in alerting the cuckolded Queen Philippa of Lancaster. As his case for the defence, the wooing casanova had the magpies painted with scrolls bearing the words, ‘Por bem’ (’It’s for the best’), in their beaks.

With the coffers brimming and the ego bolstered by colonial endeavour, Dom Manuel I (1469-1521) lavished one of the world’s most splendid mudéjar tile collections on the Sala das Armas, (Armour Room, also known as the Sala das Brasões). He also left his fanciful imprint on the exterior of the palace, embellishing the windows, doors and frames with late-Gothic Manueline flourishes, characteristic of the period.

The National Palace provided the setting for one of the monarchy’s more Shakespearean subplots. It was here that Dom Afonso VI was imprisoned by his brother. In his youth Afonso was quite the wild child. When his mother, acting as regent, was banished to a convent by an insurgent courtier, Afonso was forced to marry the demure French fancy, Marie-Françoise. Embroiled in political intrigue, Afonso fled to England and his mortified bride also locked herself away in a convent. Afonso’s younger brother Pedro was swift to stake his claim, thanks to a clutch of very persuasive nobles, and he moved into the royal palace, married his sister-in-law and had Afonso imprisoned until his death in 1683. Afonso’s cell, with very well-trodden floors, can be visited.

Away from the crowds, the greatest appeal of the palace lies in its serene atmosphere. Inner patios reveal intimate alcoves where the aroma of orange and lemon trees mingles with the calming aura of trinkling water fountains.

The palace continues to be a venue for cultural events such as Sintra’s classical music festival in June and ballet festival in July, as well as the setting for ceremonial receptions.

Estrada da Pena, T 21 923 73 00 . 0900-2000 summer, 0900-1900 winter. E3. Bus 434 from Sintra Vila, first stop.

Snaking along the mountain ridge, blasted with Atlantic winds and engulfed by low cloud, the fortifications of the seventh-century Arab stronghold are a mystical place, with a palpable air of bloody conquest. Centuries of neglect have left only protruding slabs of crumbling stone as testimony to its formidable history. One of the oldest Moorish sites in Portugal, the Moors were defeated here by the advancing troops of Afonso Henríques in 1147. Legend has it that the Moors hid their treasures from the oncoming crusaders beneath the ramparts. On a clear summer’s day, it’s a wistful place to escape the crowds in the valley below and to take in the breathtaking views along the coast.

T 21 910 53 40. Summer 1000-1800, winter 1000-1700. Closed Mon, and Jan 1, Easter Sun, May 1 and Dec 25. E5 palace and gardens. The circular Sintra bus 434 from the centre of town drops you at the entrance to the palace park and the ticket and information office.

Pena Palace sprawls improbably down the mountainous pinnacles overlooking Sintra. A truly outlandish concoction of Renaissance, baroque, Moorish, Gothic and Manueline styles, it was conceived by Dom Ferdinand II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, arguably the maddest Bavarian of them all, and architect Baron Von Eshwegem, who was responsible for a roll call of brazen castles on his native turf.

A 15-minute stroll uphill through the palace gardens leads to a Bavarian riot of candy pink spires, purple ramparts and shimmering gilded onion domes, woven into a tapestry of cobblestone streets and serpentine stairwells, where gargoyles and lurching demons stare menacingly from Moorish gateways.

While the exterior might feel hallucinogenic, the interior is more likely to make you weep with its unrestrained opulence. The serenity of the Moorish-style tiled cloister is something of an anomaly, as is the original monastery chapel. The exquisite retablo, the work of French master Nicolau Chanterène (1528-32), is an acclaimed masterpiece of the Portuguese Renaissance.

But from the sublime to the ridiculous – the Meissen room is the most extravagant of all, dripping with priceless porcelain. The ballroom is where things get really crazy with neo-Gothic chandeliers in gilded bronze, stained-glass bay windows and four golden turbaned Turks holding blazing torches aloft. The palace is preserved as it was when Queen Amelia lived there at the beginning of 20th century and her chambers, with stuccoed vaulting and mosaic tiled walls, are quite suffocating. The queen’s terrace provides much-needed relief with breathtaking views of the Sintra hills. The statue nestling among the craggy peaks in the distance is the mad architect himself.

The palace gardens provide a soothing antidote, a blissful retreat of shady arbours, Moorish fountains and shocking pink camellias, making an ideal picnic spot. Nestling in the outer reaches of the park is a small house that Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha had built for his trysts with his opera singer mistress.

Av Heliodoro Salagado, T 21 924 81 70, http://www.berardocollection.com Wed-Sun and holidays 1000-1800, Tue 1400-1800. E3, free on Thu. Turn right when exiting the railway station and it’s a 5 to 10 min walk to the pastel lemon mansion on the left.

The Berardo collection is the finest collection of modern art in Portugal, a chronological tour through the most important artistic movements from the Second World War to the present day. Inaugurated in 1997, the stunning neoclassical former casino provides an excellent backdrop. The vast private collection of José Berardi boasts more than 500 works of European and American art, sculptures, paintings and installations, and was brought together by Francisco Capelo, the media mogul behind the fantastic Design Museum in Belém. Alongside the work of Man Ray, Pollock, Miró, Picasso and Vieira da Silva, sit iconic pop art images from Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. There is an excellent café and restaurant with great views of Sintra.

Estrada de Monserrate, T 21 923 73 00. Gardens open 0900-2000 summer, 0900-1900 winter. Visits inside are not permitted. 4 km from Sintra Vila centre, 50-min walk; maps available from the tourist office.

Usually escaping the attention of the tourist hordes, this splendid estate, exuding 19th-century faded grandeur, is a rhapsody of English romanticism and bohemian decadence. Set amidst romantic gardens, with gigantic sequoias and arucarias, it was designed by James T Knowles in 1858, the architect of the Grosvenor Hotel in London. William Beckford, one of England’s most notorious and wealthy eccentrics lived here when he was exiled from England in 1787, aged 26, following a homosexual affair which scandalized prudish England. The romantic traveller came in search a bucolic dreamscape, where he could enjoy the finer things in life and plenty of youthful eye candy, and find it he did.

Francis Cooke bought the estate in the mid-19th century, before being made the Viscount of Monserrate by his royal neighbour. Cooke revamped the Gothic house, creating a Moorish-style palace with bulbous cupolas and plundered exotica. He also laid out the subtropical gardens which consisted of microcosms from regions as far flung as Mexico, Australia and India and a crumbling chapel. The story has it that Francis decided to accelerate the chapel’s decay in order to add to its romantic allure. While visits are not permitted, due to renovation works, the palace is sufficiently bewitching from afar.

Jan-Dec 1000-1730, Feb-May and Oct 1000-1830, Jun-Sep 1000-2000. E10. Self-guided tours with maps provided. Guided tours 1100, 1230, 1430, 1600. 10 mins walk from Sintra Vila.

This 20th-century palace and UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most mystical places in Portugal. A hotch potch of Gothic, Manueline and Renaissance style, the estate has been much derided for its architectural irreverence. It was built by Brazilian António Augusto Carvalho Monteira (1848-1920), together with extrovert architect and scenographer Luigi Manini, a man not renowed for his restraint and understatement – he had worked on La Scala in Milan – and completed just before the 1910 Revolution. It’s a magical setting, with fairy-tale turrets, pre-Raphaelite gardens and leafy grottos but its main interest lies in its supernatural revelations and its fusion of pagan and divine. In the gardens a spiral staircase leads down to an intiatory well.

Serra da Sintra, 9 km from Sintra Vila, T 21 923 73 00. 0900-2000 summer, 0900-1900 winter. Guided visits only. E3. No public transport; taxis are available from Praça da República in Sintra Vila, or it’s an excellent hike; route maps available from the tourist office.

Founded in 1560 by Dom Álvaro de Castro, the son of the Viceroy of India, Capuchos Convent lies in the remote mountain reaches of Sintra. An austere Fransciscan hermitage in every sense, it consists of a warren of cork-lined cells carved out of the rock face, its miniscule dimensions more fit for hobbits and dwarfs than human beings; and set against a stunning mountain backdrop, it feels more Middle Earth than western Europe.

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