- The Chapel window
Armillary sphere, Coats of arms of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Coats of arms of Portugal. - View of the Moorish castle
View from the Pena Palace towards the Moorish castle and a bit of the Atlantic Ocean. - Queen's bedroom
The ceiling in the Queen's bedroom. - A door in a door
- A cabinet
The palace is filled with fascinating furniture. - A telephone
An ancient telephone in the Queen's office. - The Arab Room
This Arab room is the official Reception Room. The whole room, painted by Paolo Pizzi in 1854, is a huge optical illusion. - Monkey stools
Sort of like The three wise monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Only these two are eating :-) - The Sacristy
I loove the tiles! - Decoration
This somehow reminds me of my great-grandmothers inheritance... she could easily have something like that in her house. - A chandelier
The chandelier in the Indian room, also called the Smoking Room. The glass neo-rococo chandelier dates from the mid-19th century and is a representation of ta Morning Glory with grapes. - A chandelier
The chandelier in the Smoking Room. The ceiling is Islamic - Mudejar. - Another chandelier
The chandelier in the Noble Hall. Initially the Hall of the Ambassadors, later transformed into a Billiards Room. - Stained-glass windows
Stained windows in the Noble Hall. King Ferdinand's collection of central European stained glass. - The view
View from the Noble Hall towards the inner court. - Stained-glass window
SS: BERARDVS, PETRVS, ACCVRSIVS, ADIVTVS ET, OTTO, MARTIJRES, ORDINIS, S. FRACIS[CVS] 1644". These are the Holy Martyrs of Morocco, Franciscan Protomartyrs. - A copper pig mold
I am not quite sure if this is a cooking, baking, terrine, or an aspic mold. Or something completely different. It was found in the kitchen, though. - Baking molds
Rather interesting baking molds... in case you want to eat a dog or a bee. - The castle kitchen
A large kitchen was required for such a castle. - The Triton: half-man and half-fish
The Triton above the Arch of the Triton, called officially the "Allegoric Gate to the creation of the World". The water-world is in the ground floor and the upper floor is the world of plants - most notably the tree and the wines. The transition is made by water weed. - A window
Each window is different and all are interesting. - Pena Palace
Pena in the setting sun. - I love it!
I love the contrasting melange of styles. - The doors
Doors with "manueline" ropes. - Concrete baskets
Concrete woven baskets - "Manueline" window
This is a direct copy of the manueline chapterhouse window in the Convent of Christ in Tomar. - Pena Palace
Pena at sunset - Moorish Castle
View of the Moorish Castle and some typical boulders in the front - The Triton
He is one angry Triton. - Details
Details of the roof - Another window
Just another different window - Details
Details on the facade - Patio dos Arcos
We were one of the last visitors there, enjoying the sunset. - Patio dos Arcos
The warm setting sun was literally caressing my soul. - Pena Palace
The Pena colours at sunset is even warmer. - Entrance to the Palace
- Sintra at night
A house opposite of our hotel at night - Sintra National Palace
The palace as seen from Rua Marechal Saldanha. - Wall decoration
Decoration in Miradouro da Villa, Sintra - A street sign
A street sign in Sintra. - Some stairs
Stairs in the town centre at night - Castelo dos Mouros
View of the Castelo from Largo Rainha Dona Amélia - Castelo dos Mouros
The castle at night. I love colour photos that appear black& white. - Palácio Nacional
The National Palace of Sintra, the medieval royal residence from 15th to 19th century. - The chimneys
The famous chimneys of Palácio Nacional de Sintra. - Palácio Nacional
The palace is a blend of Gothic, Manueline, Moorish, and Mudéjar styles... - The court of the National Palace
Another black&white colour photo. Besides, it looks like a cool optical illussion ;-) - Palácio Valenças
Sintra's Coat of arms on Palácio Valenças - Stone stairs
The stairs in our hotel - Quinta das murtas - Quinta das murtas
An ancient passage in the hotel - Quinta das murtas
A rather interesting decoration in the hotel. But is fits perfectly into the whole over-the-top town. - Quinta das murtas
And interesting furniture. - Cupboard pattern
The pattern of the cupboard in black and white. - Quinta das murtas
The reception of the hotel. It really puts you in the mood of the whole town. - Quinta das murtas
Mirror, mirror on the wall... - Camellia
A camellia and duckweed. But the camellia is neither red nor white, so what does that mean? - Stone stairs
Stairs in our hotel - Quinta das Murtas - Fountain
A fountain in the hotel's garden. Oh, there was also a pool (closed in winter) and a jacuzzi (open in winter :-) - Calla
So wonderful to see flowers in February. - A mandarin(?) tree
In the hotel garden, of course. You can tell that I really liked the place... - Quinta das Murtas
This was our room/cottage in the hotel. - Palácio Nacional
The same palace - Sintra National Palace - in daylight - Logs in Quinta
Perfection. - Portal of the Guardians
The gardens of Quinta da Regaleria - The entrance
The entrance to the Initiation Well. Rather dull compared to what's behind these doors. - Rhododendron
- The Initiation Well
27 m deep "inverted" tower that was used for ceremonial purposes related to Tarot mysticism, according to Wikipedia. - The Initiation Well
27 m deep and full of mystery. - Portal of the Guardians
One of the many fountains in the park - Underground walkways
Again, one of the many underground walkways. - The Initiation Well
I can't imagine how much work went into the whole palace and the gardens. - The Unfinished Well
As the name says, this well appears unfinished. - The Unfinished Well
View up the Unfinished Well - Lake of the Waterfall
I wonder how many people fall into the water annually. - Lake of the Waterfall
The waters were pretty low so interesting patterns appeared on the rocks. - Lake of the Waterfall
Just magical. - Quinta underground
A whole maze of underground pathways. - Exit
Exit and entrance into the underground. - Lake of the Waterfall
- Portal of the Guardians
Another entrance/exit from the underground and the Initiation wells. - Steep stairs
Well, these are some steep stairs. - Bromeliad(?)
Probably a bromeliad. Or something similar. - Another tower
The tower above Leda's Grotto - The palace
The main palace and a bit of the chapel in the front. - Random flowers
- Labyrinthic Grotto
A wonderful underground maze - The Chapel window
The stained window in the Capela da Santíssima Trindade. - The chapel's basement
Of course there is another secret passage from the chapel's basement taking you ... well, someplace else in the gardens. - Monstera deliciosa
A monstrous monstera - The Hunting room
The Quinta was bought by Baroness da Regaleira in 1840 and made into her summer retreat. - The Hunting room
And a parrot! - The Hunting room
A "javali" - Frescoes
The whole palace is a mixture of styles, ideas and second thoughts. - King's Room
Formerly a billiard room, it is decorated with portraits of Portuguese monarchs: 20 kings and 4 queens. These three are: João II (1455-1495), Manuel I (1469-1521) and João III (1502-1557). - Quinta da Regaleira
- Parque da Liberdade
Parque da Liberdade - entrance to the Botanical Garden. - Old priest shoes
The priests surely had some lovely shoes. - The Infirmary
The palace served as a Franciscan friary - it actually started as a modest friary for 13 Capuchin friars... This is the Infirmary for the seriously ill. - The Infirmary
All the beds in the Infirmary faced the altar. - 18th century pharmacy
The ... equipment.