I visited the Portuguese castle called 'Disneyland for Adults,' and it's a magical, real-life fairy tale setting you can't miss

Harrison Jacobs

Sep 4, 2018, 23:43 IST

I visited the Portuguese castle called 'Disneyland for Adults,' and it's a magical, real-life fairy tale setting you can't miss

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Pena National Palace outside Lisbon in Sintra, Portugal, is about as real as fairy-tale castles get.

Sintra is a picturesque city located 15 miles outside of Lisbon, Portugal in the Sintra Mountains and home to numerous palaces, villas, mansions, castles, and churches.
The most stunning of the sights in Sintra is the Pena National Palace, built in 1840 according to the exacting specifications of King Ferdinand, who wanted the palace to be a melting pot of architectural styles and colors.
The palace is said to have inspired King Ludwig II's German castle Neuschwanstein, which inspired Walt Disney's castle at Disneyland.
Though the palace and the surrounding grounds are undoubtedly crowded with tourists in summer months, it is an absolutely can't-miss, dreamy sight that visitors will likely never forget.

I almost didn't go.

After spending several weeks running around Lisbon, Porto, the sun-drenched beach region of Algarve, and everywhere in between, I thought why not relax on my last day in Portugal and avoid a place often described as "Disneyland for Adults."

What a mistake that would've been.

Located only 15 miles from Lisbon, the picturesque city of Sintra is about as fairy-tale Portugal as it gets. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is situated on the Portuguese Riviera and amongst the Sintra Mountains, a verdant range dense with pines, oaks, and wildlife. It's long been known as the setting for numerous myths, legends, and supernatural happenings in Portugal.

The otherworldly air is enhanced by the numerous palaces, villas, mansions, churches, and castles that are ensconced in the forested mountain peaks.

While there are more than half a dozen to visit, the two most stunning, in my opinion, are the Pena National Palace and the Castle of the Moors. The two architectural feats, built in 1840 and the 9th century respectively, best exhibit how Sintra has been a romantic destination throughout the ages.

The Pena National Palace is made from dreams. Often enveloped in fog and located at the top of a hill so that it is visible in every direction, the palace is a tapestry of colors and styles ranging from Romantic to Islamic to Gothic. Surrounded by 500 acres of winding paths, gardens, and exotic trees, you are likely to feel like you are walking into a magical kingdom.

I certainly did on my recent visit to the palace and the surrounding castles and gardens in Sintra. Here's what it was like:

I got to Sintra in the late afternoon, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. While there was still an hour line to get into Pena Palace, the crowds had started to thin. In the summer months, many of Sintra's sights are open until 7 or 8 p.m. so I still had plenty of time.

The ticket-seller recommended that I visit the Castle of the Moors before Pena Palace, as by the time I was done, there would no longer be a line. When in doubt, a hard and fast rule of travel is "trust the locals." The walk to the Castle of the Moors gave me my first look at the dense forests that cover the Sintra mountains.

The Castle of the Moors was constructed in the 8th and 9th centuries by the Muslim Moors who conquered Portugal and Spain in medieval times There are numerous structures that make up the complex, like this tomb.

The castle is expansive and was designed to endure long sieges.

It's hard to see the scope of the castle at first, but I was immediately impressed by the preservation of all the stone walls. King Ferdinand II, who commissioned the Pena National Palace, had the Castle of the Moors restored in the 1800s so that it would be a feature of the gardens around his palace.

The majesty of the castle hits you when you stand up on the stone parapet. It reminded me of a mini-Great Wall, with its stone walls that swoop and bend with the contours of the mountain.

As I trekked up and down the seemingly infinite stairs, I was also reminded of how exhausting it was to hike the Great Wall. At least it wasn't hot. Though the day was bright and sunny in late August, a breeze surrounded the mountain. I could see why royals and the wealthy have long stayed in Sintra during the summer months.

The castle's main purpose was to guard both the town of Sintra below the castle and the city of Lisbon, 15 miles away.

The castle was fought over by the Moors and Christians for centuries until Afonso I, the first king of Portugal, conquered Lisbon. The castle's significance was as much symbolic as strategic.

The castle fell into disrepair after the conquest and suffered much damage during the earthquake of 1755. But King Ferdinand, a highly educated German prince who was the president of the Royal Academy of Sciences and the Arts, loved the castle and restored it.

From the top of the castle, I caught a view of Sintra's crown jewel – and Ferdinand's magnum opus — the Pena National Palace. Even from afar, the fascinating palace casts an imposing shadow upon the mountain.

Before I could get to the Pena National Palace, however, I had to walk through the palace gardens, which are sight unto themselves. The park is 500 acres of winding paths, pavilions, bridges, ponds, and exotic trees.

When I first entered the gardens, I noticed the "Valley of the Lakes," a string of five lakes that are surrounded by the lush forest. In the center of the first lake is a little castle for ducks.

Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, who is one of the most famous fairy-tale writers in history, spent much time in Sintra, once calling it "where nature and art complete each other wonderfully.”

I think these magical-looking gardens must have inspired some of Andersen's fairy tales.

The park was designed as a labyrinth and is full of narrow paths, secret shortcuts, and trees from all over the world, including Sequoias from America, Gingkos from China, Cryptomeria from Japan, ferns from Australia, and succulents from Africa.

As I crested the hill, the trees thinned out and I hit a curving road. When I looked up, I saw Pena National Palace up close for the first time. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this symphonic mashup of colors and styles.

Known by many as the artist-king, Ferdinand commissioned then-unknown Prussian architect Ludwig von Eschwege to build the palace incorporating architectural styles from all over the world. To enter, I passed through the Door of Alhambra, a neo-Moorish gateway inspired by the Alhambra Door of Justice, in Granada, Spain.

As I looked at the castle, I felt as though I'd stepped through Alice's Looking Glass into Wonderland. It seemed impossible to imagine that a real architect would dare to smush medieval, Renaissance, Gothic, Moorish, and Manueline (Portuguese neo-Gothic) architecture together.

The palace's bright color palette of yellow and red should be garish, but set in the dark green landscape, it feels refreshing.

I headed up the path to see the inside of the palace. While the palace was built in 1840, the history of the site dates back to the Middle Ages. Jeronimos monks lived in a monastery and tended to a chapel there since 1503.

But the monastery was damaged during a lightning strike in the 1700s and destroyed by the earthquake in 1755. When Ferdinand decided to build his palace on the site, he had the monastery building and its clock tower restored. It serves as one of the complex's four sections.

As I walked into the interior of the palace, I noticed that the mashup of styles extends to the smallest details, like this Moorish stonework.

The interior of the palace is situated around an open courtyard. The space is adorned with azulejos, the Portuguese ceramic tile art that can be found all over the country.

In Pena National Palace, there was an emphasis on the Moorish style and its geometric patterns. This was in one of the bathrooms.

The rooms are decorated in much the same sumptuous manner as they were when the Royal Family fled the palace in 1910 after the Republican Revolution.

After seeing the extravagant way the royal family's summer palace was decorated, I can sympathize with the Portuguese for overthrowing the dynasty.

Much of the interior decorations have subtle nods to the arts, culture, and science of the times. There are many paintings and sculptures made in the style of Scientific Romanticism, which was influenced by Greek mythology.

While the interiors of the palace were stuffed with gilded sculptures and chandeliers and furniture of rich mahogany, I found the exterior of the palace to be far more visually interesting. You can only look at rich people's stuff for so long.

This room, known as the Stag Room, was designed as a "knights' room." Old weapons were to be displayed and the room was used as a banquet hall.

If you are a cook, you'll appreciate the royal kitchen. The room is the largest in the palace and was used to prepare the banquets held in the Stag Room.

Outside the kitchen is a cafe with some tables, which have a spectacular view of the Sintra Mountains. It's amazing how much cooler the climate is at the top of the castle than it is in Lisbon, just 30 minutes away.

The best place to see the scope of King Ferdinand and Ludwig von Eschwege's architectural work is on the other side. You pass through the gateway into this courtyard, which faces the mountainside.

The red structure is the restored original part of the monastery that once housed 18 monks of the Order of Saint Jerome. The chapel is still preserved.

The interior of the chapel is an exquisite piece of Gothic architecture, but the most impressive thing to me was the stained glass window that covers one side of the chapel, shown here.

The real star of the show, of course, is the view backwards towards the castle. While the palace's Moorish-style onion dome should look out of place with Manueline architecture, the combination reads as surreal.

Even more so when you look out on the mountainous landscape below. As I stood up there, the wind whipped around me and a fog had started to coat the palace. It was cold. I can't imagine being there in the winter.

But in August, it was a welcome respite from Portugal's balmy summer heat.

The walk back down through the Palace gardens was even more magical than the way up, as I was no longer rushing to get to the castle and dusk was starting to fall. It would be easy to get lost in here. But I suppose that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

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