Portugal

The Portuguese are not afraid of color!  The French and the Germans wear dark clothes, but there is color everywhere in Portugal.   How can you think badly of a country who has their President live in a Pink House?

Or, one of their national treasures of a castle has every color of the rainbow?  (Pena Palace, Sintra Portugal)

Even an every day house in Lisbon shouts out it’s color!

After spending so much time in Paris with it’s white buildings, it was a treat to see the creativity.   Personally, I think it’s the sun!
So we started our next series of trips with a trip across THIS bridge to THIS monument:
If you ever play one of those Facebook games, where it looks like San Francisco or Rio, but isn’t… it’s probably Lisbon.  Yes, these were built because of admiration for the originals.


We spent a lovely day in Sintra, enjoying 3 castles that are in this town.  And, after we left, we found that there were more.  We did go to the Sintra National Palace.   Actually very interesting as it was our first time in a Palace with such Moorish influence.  (*The two big points sticking up there are chimneys in the kitchen.)

THIS has to be one of the most beautiful rooms I’ve seen in a castle.   The walls are made of the typical blue tile you see all over buildings in Portugal, with scenes of Portugal made specifically for this room.  And the ceiling has wood panels with hand painted crests on stags on them.  Also, the room was set specifically here in the castle, so they could look out the window and see the Atlantic Ocean to watch for any boats coming back from any of the colonies that Portugal owned.

And HERE really is the inside of that “Chimney”  It is in the kitchen and the kitchen is big enough to warrant two of them.  It just looks rather… strange.



Off for some lunch… Fish is highly recommended… Salmon with capers, grilled potatoes and a salad or… Veal with Feijoada and Rice.   Meals were simple but hearty and good….







We got in the car to drive up to the “colorful castle” and  WOW!  That was some drive.  We are used to the roads that are wide enough for a car and a mouse that are 2 lane roads.  But we were unprepared for the same road with cars parked all around it and then having to make a hair pin left turn up a hill.   I’m SO THANKFUL for my hubby!   For a minute, I thought he was just going to say “Forget it!  Not worth it!”  But, I have yet to see him back down from a challenge and the view is always the best from the top of the hill.



And, our ticket was good for the ruins of the Moorish Castle.  This one actually was used for defense and has the best climbing and views…

So COOL!!!
I guess I’ll do a Part 3 soon!  (*Now finished and working on number 4… eurotravelbug)
I'd like to promote Europe ~