"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth..."
-Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad
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| Iscte Student Residence |
This student residence used to be a monastery. Buildings in Lisbon have served many purposes in many eras.
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| Merenda de chocolate |
Looking a little worse for wear. Subway station breakfast.
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| Queijada de nata coco |
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| Power nap before the big day |
We are on our way to Sintra to see some castles.
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| Castle Spotted! |
Walking the castle grounds to reach the Palacio da Pena.
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| Palacio da Pena |
The castle's history started in the Middle Ages when a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena was built on the top of the hill above Sintra. According to tradition, construction occurred after an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
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| Azulejos |
What are Azulejos? It's translation literally means tiles, but it represents a cultural phenomenon in Spain, Brazil, and Portugal of creating sets of tiles decorated with geometric shapes and symbols. I remember seeing these at the famous Escadaria Selerón in Rio.
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| Castle Grounds |
King Manuel I, was also very fond of this sanctuary, and ordered the construction of a monastery on this site which was donated to the Order of Saint Jerome. For centuries Pena was a small, quiet place for meditation, housing a maximum of eighteen monks.
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| Stained glass in the chapel |
In the 18th century the monastery was severely damaged by lightning. However, it was the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, occurring shortly afterwards, that took the heaviest toll on the monastery, reducing it to ruins. Nonetheless, the chapel escaped without significant damage. You can see in the shield of Portugal in the bottom left pane.
For many decades the ruins remained untouched, but they still astonished young prince Ferdinand. In 1838, as King consort Ferdinand II, he decided to acquire the old monastery, all of the surrounding lands, the nearby Castle of the Moors and a few other estates in the area. King Ferdinand then set out to transform the remains of the monastery into a palace that would serve as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family.
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| The yellow onion |
King Ferdinand suggested vault arches, Medieval and Islamic elements be included. This castle really is Frankenstein creation.
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More Azulejos
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| The old monastery courtyard |
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| Antique Telephone |
If I remember correctly, Queen Amelia, the last royal member to occupy the castle, had a telephone installed circa 1913.
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| Epic Silver Creation |
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| The Stag Room |
Served as a less intimate dining room for larger gatherings.
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| My knight in shining armor |
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| A path to somewhere |
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| A swan in the Valley of Pools |
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| Bus to Sintra Downtown |
We ended up a little way down the hill one bus stop before the entrance to the palace grounds. That coincidence actually turned out to be a miracle because there were a ton of people waiting at the next stop and the bus ran out of room.
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| Sintra Downtown |
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| Pizza a Esquina |
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| Two Chimneys |
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| Cabo da Roca |
The end of the western European continent.
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| Viewpoint at Boca do Inferno |
From Cabo da Roca we made our way down to the city of Cascais.
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| Country Hands |
I'm not sure what the symbolism behind this piece is, but it extends both ways on the underside of an arch in the Cascais marina shopping. Maybe on the outside we wear nationalism, but on the inside, we are all the same.
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| Mclaren Model 720 |
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| Cannondale |
One day...
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| Ferris Wheel |
Did you know the Ferris Wheel was invented to rival the Eiffel Tower?
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| Oriental Market |
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| Plaza Designs |
In Manaus, I ran across this same pattern in the plaza by the opera house. The Rubber Barons wanted to display their wealth in Manaus by mimicking contemporary European style.
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| Olá! |
I get to say goodnight to this lovely fellow at our bus stop by the residence.
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