Last night we had dinner at Casa do Alentejo, on the 3rd floor of an old building in the “restaurant district” with old tiled walls, wooden floors, and several separate dining rooms, each with a dozen or so tables. As often happens in Europe, we were seated at a 4-person table, and soon were joined by a couple from Bonn, Germany, so ended up conversing with them. Fortunately he’s an English teacher, and she speaks both English and Portuguese. They’re relative newlyweds (4 years), but he’s about Bob’s age, while she is 40 at most. We had a fascinating conversation about World War II. She reflects the younger generation’s view of horror at what happened under the Hitler regime, and also describes the fear her parents endured as the city where they lived was bombed daily at times. He was quiet on any view of the war, and told the story of his father’s capture in France by the Americans, and subsequent 2-year status as a prisoner of war during which he worked in the kitchen cooking for the Americans. The father is still alive. An interesting evening.
Today we had an early breakfast and rode the train 40 minutes northwest to the town of Sintra, located on a “mountain” just under 2000 feet tall and still near the ocean. This is where kings and rich people have built posh homes for centuries to escape the city grit of Lisbon. Most of the mountain is now a Park, and cobblestone trails and a one-way road wind their way through a forest from the train station to the top. Most people ride the bus to the top, but the weather was beautiful and we decided to walk, taking trails through the park and gaining about 1600’ over the 90 minutes it took to arrive at Pena Palace.
Pena Palace was originally the site of a chapel and monastery built in the 1200s and 1500s respectively, which went into serious decline after the great earthquake of 1755. Don Fernando II bought the site and constructed the present palace between 1842-54. Don Fernando was a cousin of “Mad King Ludwig” of Castle Neuschwanstein fame, and you can see that interest in odd architecture ran in the family. The German architect hired to design the palace married Moorish, Manueline, Portuguese and various other styles to create a most unusual place, richly furnished still with pieces from around the world during the Victorian era (this style was described as one in which its followers “have a horror of open space and like to display their collections” – we might call it cluttered, fussy and a nightmare to dust and polish!). The last family members of the monarchy fled from here in 1910.
After stopping for a cafe au lait in the park, we continued on to the nearby ruins of the Moorish Castle, originally built in the 9th and 10th centuries by the Arabs, rebuilt in the 1500s by the Portuguese and then restored in the 1800s by Don Fernando. We climbed many, many steps and saw turrets, cisterns and archaeological sites during our time here.
Another train trip took us back to Lisbon, and shortly we’re headed out for dinner on our third and final night in Lisbon. We remain enthusiastic about Portugal and are finding our time here interesting and easy, and we’re very much enjoying the weather. Tomorrow we pick up a rental car and head north.
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