SINTRA

Sintra is a Portuguese village, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocenan by both the south and west, that was claimed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as "Cultural Landscape of Sintra" since 1995. Its architectural heritage with a great variety of palaces, mansions, chalets, monasteries, and its floristic heritage housed in a micro-climate, is what makes Sintra a unique place with a romantic atmosphere.  It is also invaluable to mankind because of the findings made by archeologists of traces of mankind history.

Its origins date back to prehistoric times. In the Sintra area they found important remains belonging to several time periods. From the Late Neolithic to the Paleolithic and Neolithic, to the Bronze and Iron Age, through to the Roman period, until after the Muslim rule, to the foundation of Potugal, to the Discoveries. Sintra has survived all of this, including an earthquake in 1755. Throughout Sintra's history one can find remanis of all time periods, however, it is in the period between the end of the XVIII century and throughout the XIX century that Sintra had its golden time.
      The late XVIII century and XIX century Romanticism deployment by the Rei D. Fernando II attracts a large number of visitors, turning Sintra into a famous cultural destination.

Between the second half of the XIX century and the first decades of the XX century, Sintra became a privileged place for artists such as Lord Byron, who called it a "a Garden of the Earthly Paradise", or Portuguese writers such as Eça de Queiroz, who described it in so many passages of his books. This helped create an aura around the town, which rightly belongs to all these cultural and historical important figures.

When visiting Sintra it is essential to stroll through Parque Natural da Serra de Sintra and taste the wonderful desserts, such as "Queijadas Sintra", "Pillows", "Crayons Pena nuts", and jams.



Palácio da Pena

It was a dream come true for the king, as it was built in the hills of Sintra, with a wonderfull view, mixing various architectural styles making it one of the most emblematic examples of Romanticism in Europe and, incidentally, the first romantic palace in Europe, built about 30 years before the charismatic Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria.