Royals for a Day

Feb 9, 2015
2 min read

Close your eyes and picture a quant village with small cobblestone streets, seated on a high mountain; rolling green hills with castles overlooking the ocean; colorful pastel palaces on a mountain top that look like they are sitting on a cloud.

Now Google "Sintra, Portugal."

And you thought I was making it up, didn't you?

Sintra is a small town, but a small town that literally is home to four different castles/palaces. One palace (Palacio Nacional de Sintra) is actually located right in the middle of the city, just casually sitting there. Then there's the Castel of the Moors, the Palacio e Quinta de Regaleria and what we came for: Palacio Nacional de Pena.

There wasn't time to visit all locations in one day and one day was all we had, so Leigh and I opted for what we heard was one of the most beautiful castles in the world. Situated at the very top of a mountain (the highest palace in the city), we took a bus up to the top. And when we got to the top, I couldn't decide if we had landed in heaven, a candyland video game or the most extravagant and beautiful play palace in the world (seriously, a little girl's dream). It's safe to say that Leigh and I were little girls running around the exterior of the palace giddy with excitement over how pretty it was. It took us half an hour to even realize we could venture inside.

The Pena National Palace is a Romanticist palace and is one of the best examples of 19th-century Romanticism in the world. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. From the years of 1842-1910, the palace was ocuppied by four different sets of royals.

Sadly, the photos just don't do it justice. But it was worth a shot!