Weekly Photo Challenge: Delicate

A picture taken in the gardens at Sintra in Portugal.  I think it sums up delicate pretty nicely.

The Spiders of Sintra

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Off To Sintra, Portugal

A 45 minute train ride from Lisbon takes you to an enchanted place, Sintra. But first, the morning view from our terrace in Lisbon.

The place is crazy.  I mean, this is what you see when you come around the bend on the trail.

Sintra Castle

Stunning, I expected a Portuguese version of Tinkerbell to fly out and sprinkle fairy port on us.  Actually I was hoping for that because I love Port.  Once inside, it was very castle like, but the views, spectacular.

A view from a terrace

From the Rear Wall (I think)

Some Local Homes (I’m thinking nobility lived in these)

Once we left the castle, we headed into the gardens.  As the story goes, the gardens are a mixture of Mediterranean and Northern European forests, put together as an experiment. The resulting foliage is truly remarkable and the gardens themselves, very peaceful and beautiful.  The downside is that one could tell that a despot seems to have put it together.  Think, “Carve a stone couch there, and while you are at it, the ducks need houses that are nicer than yours, so build some in the middle of that lake you dig.  Oh, and have it done by Wednesday”.

Check these out.

That is one funky tree

The White Swans

And In The Next Pool, The Black Swans

The Foliage

One Of The Duck Houses

Finishing up in the garden, we crossed the road and hiked uphill about 2km to Castle Mourous, the old Moorish castle.  Pretty spectacular in itself, but not in a good state of repair.  Refurbishment is in progress.  Still, an imposing structure.

Mourous

And with that, we were done.  Caught the train back to Lisbon, knowing we were on a plane in the morning in our plane, train and automobile run to Toledo.  Loved Portugal, and will definitely be back.  Way more to see there than one can do in 60 hours.

 

 

 

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

My first crack at doing a Daily Post thing.  This shot is from the palace gardens at Sintra in Portugal.  The little castle in the lake is actually a big duck house.

Duck House at Sintra in Portugal