- Sunset in Caparica
Costa da Caparica and the hills of Sintra in the background. - Fountain
A relief on an early Renaissance water basin with the coat-of-arms of the monastery. - Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça
The interior of the church is empty, corresponding to the Cistercian order, but huge! The main nave is 106 m long. - Room of the Kings
Room of the kings is full of statues of kings. The tiles depict the monastery history. - Claustro Real
The royal cloister was built by architect Fernão de Évora in 1448-1477. - Praia da Gigi
Early morning walk on the beach. - Hall of Destiny
The ceiling in the Hall of Destiny: Lusitania, surrounded by the Portugal kings. Afonso Henriques, who has the Book of Destinies of Portugal, is surrounded by Hugues Capet, King of France, and Henry of Burgundy, father of Afonso Henriques. - Mafra furniture
What a lovely detail in one of the plate cabinets. - Night in Caparica
View from our hotel room. - Caparica beach
Fishing boats on the Caparica beach. Still a very active fishing port. - Life is good in Lisbon
View from Miradouro de Santa Catarina - Miradouro de Santa Luzia
An angry fish at the Miradouro de Santa Luzia - History of Lisbon
A complete Lisbon history in one passage. Mural by Nuno Saraiva. Every city should have a mural like this one. - Tiles in Alfama
Finding little treasures while getting lost in Alfama. - Padrão dos Descobrimentos
Statue built in 1940/1960 to mark the 500-year anniversary of Henry the Navigator's death. - Padrão dos Descobrimentos
View from the top of the monument. Ponte 25 de Abril, which is 2277 m long, was built in 1966. - Rosa dos Ventos
View from the Monument of the Discoveries. A wind rose and a world map. - Caparica sunset
Another sunset in Caparica. But the Sintra hills are already cloudy. - Quinta Pézinhos no Tejo
A wonderful setting for a wonderful dinner. - Quinta Pézinhos no Tejo
Fado singers at the dinner - Quinta Pézinhos no Tejo
- Óbidos
13th century castle, and one can walk on the walls. - Óbidos
View of the town from the castle walls. - Óbidos
Calcada da Misericordia - Ilha do Baleal
There are some oddly specific signs in Baleal... - Peniche from Baleal
Sunset in Baleal. What a wonderful place. And yes, I saw some dolphins there as well. - R. do Pôr do Sol
The street name says it all: sunset street. - Ilha do Baleal
Northern tip of Ilha do Baleal and Ilha de Fora. - Hotel garden
Wonderful tiny garden of our hotel (Silver coast). - Fountain Hall
Gothic fountain hall in the cloister. - Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça
Refectory, where the monks had their daily meals. - Virgin Mary and child
I really like the visible hairstyle of Saint Mary. Unusual to see her hair so long and so curly. - The kitchen
What a kitchen! Built and covered with tiles in the 18th century. A channel carried water from Alcoa river directly through the kitchen (!) to get fresh water and fish. - Cloister of Silence
This cloister was built under King Dinis I (1261-1325). The Manueline top floor is from early 16th century. - Gargoyle in the cloister
A rather interesting gargoyle. - Chapter House
Statue of S. Gregorivs Magn in the Chapter House. - Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça
Some old inscriptions on the cloister walls. - Cloister of Silence
- Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça
This is the oldest gothic building in Portugal, and still the largest church in the country. - Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça
Founded in 1153 by Afonso Henriques and built in 1178-1252. The facade was added later, of course. - Monastery of Saint Mary of the Victory
The monastery was built to celebrate the 1385 victory over the Castilians. The church was built between 1386 and 1517. - Founder's Chapel
The chapel was built in 1426-1434 by Huguet to become the first royal pantheon in Portugal. - Monastery of Saint Mary of the Victory
What an insane attention to detail! - Claustro Real
- Monastery of Saint Mary of the Victory
What a magnificent cathedral! - Capelas Imperfeitas
Insanely beautiful detail. - Capelas Imperfeitas
Ah, the famous Unfinished Chapels, commissioned in 1437 by Dom Duarte. - Capelas Imperfeitas
The portal was originally Gothic and transformed by Mateus Fernandes into Manueline style (1509). - Capelas Imperfeitas
- Capelas Imperfeitas
King Manuel I dedicated this portal to King Edward and the motto "Leauté faray tam yaserei" means "I will always be loyal". - Convento de Cristo in Tomar
A lot of renovation was going on, so we entered through some side doors. This was the first thing that greeted us after climbing the stairs. At 40 deg C outside, these rooms were at least a bit cooler. - Convento de Cristo in Tomar
The Romanesque round church was built in the second half of the 12th century by the Knights Templar. - Convento de Cristo in Tomar
São Cristóvão - Saint Christopher (1484-1500) - Claustro Principal
A very 16th century Renaissance cloister. - Janela do Capítulo
The famous Manueline Window of the Chapter House (1510-1513). - Refectory
Pulpit in the Refectory, which was build in 1535-1536. Royal coat of arms... and some strange faces. - Cistern
One of the many cisterns in the Monastery. - Claustro de Santa Bárbara
And one of the many cloisters in the Monastery, this one was built in the 16th century. - Ilha de Fora
Another sunset in Baleal. Just beautiful. - Sunset in Baleal
- Fog!
I just learned a new word: sea fog is called haar. And yes, there was a lot of fog in the morning. - Praia da Gigi
What a wonderful misty - foggy - haary morning :-) - Praia da Gigi
- Praia da Gigi
- Hotel garden
- Ilhéu da Papôa
- Ilhéu da Papôa
If you look closely, you will see a catamaran in the fog. Well, the hull is hidden in the fog, but the sail peeks out. - Cabo Carvoeiro
A fogbow, also known as white rainbow. Because, well, it forms on fog and is whitish. - Cabo Carvoeiro
- Room of discoveries
Ceiling in the Room of Discoveries by Bernardo António de Oliveira Góis (c. 1770-c. 1820) and Cyrillo Volkmar Machado (1748-1823). - Marble Hallway
- Doors in one of the cloister
I don't quite get these doors, to be honest. - Cloister
What a lovely cloister this is. - Palácio Nacional de Mafra
One of the largest royal palaces, this one was commissioned by João V and built in 1717-1755. And yes, there is wildfire smoke in the background. - Palácio Nacional de Mafra
- Monserrate
Triton fountain in the park of Monserrate. - Monserrate
In 1846, Francis Cook, the 1st Viscount of Monserrate, built this Gothic-Indian-Moorish-shiny-pretty palace. - Triton fountain
The base of the Triton fountain. What a lovely angry fish this is. - Monserrate Main Hall
I do have a soft spot for this kind of architecture. - Gallery in Monserrate
- Gallery in Monserrate
- Music room
The ceiling in the Music room. Apparently there is wonderful acoustic in this room. Not if it is crowded with tourists... - Monserrate Main Hall
The ceiling in the Main hall. - Monserrate park
I think this is some kind of cycad, but I really can't figure out which one. - Monserrate park
Again, no idea what this is. Some sort of blossoming succulent. - African lily
Our hotel garden in the early morning mist. - The Initiation Well
- The Initiation Well
- The unfinished initiation well
- An unnamed lake
The lake in front of the Gruta do Labirinto. - Quinta da Rigaleira
Carvalho Monteiro bought the place in 1892 and built this with the Italian architect Luigi Manini. The construction began in 1904 and was completed by 1910. - Quinta da Rigaleira
Heh, this lovely creature is quite literally biting its ass ;-) - Pena park
We decided to take a walk through the Pena gardens (and not visit the palace this time). - Cruz Alta - High Cross
The High Cross is located at the highest point, at 528 m. The first cross was placed here around 1522 by João III. - Chalet of the Countess of Edla
Ferdinand II built this for the opera singer Elise Friederike Hensler, later Countess of Edla. The chalet is alpine like - but dressed in cork. - Chalet of the Countess of Edla
The ceiling in the Grand Hallway. The whole chalet is very very colourful. - Chalet of the Countess of Edla
All the rooms are insanely beautiful, but this Dining room, with cork and wood, is probably my favourite. - View of Sintra
View from the castle towards the town. And you can see the fog over the sea :-) - Castelo dos Mouros
The 10th century castle was built by the Moors. - Castelo dos Mouros