portugal: national palace

Our last stop in Sintra was the National Palace, the oldest surviving royal palace in the country.

©all photos by me. More photos here.

portugal: moorish castle

Just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Pena Palace lies the Moorish castle,  thousand year old ruins with a breathtaking view from Sintra all the way to the Atlantic.

©all photos by me. More photos here.

portugal: pena palace

The town of Sintra (about 30 minutes by train from Lisbon), was once the home of Portugal's aristocracy. Today, there are a number of palaces, castles and other breathtaking sites to visit. The Pena Palace was built by Prince Ferdinand in the 19th century and designed by a German architect who mixed German, Moorish and Portuguese styles to come up with the design.

©all photos by me. More photos here.

portugal: belèm

The Belèm district is three miles from downtown Lisbon and it's full of interesting sites, like the Coach Museum, Monastery of Jerònimos and the Belèm Tower. The stunning Manueline architecture reminded both Jeff and I of our trip to Lecce a few years ago. These structures survived the 1775 earthquake, so it was really interesting to see some of the original structures of Lisbon. Belèm was also the send-off point for explorers during the Age of Discovery.

©all photos by me. More photos here.

portugal: lisbon

Bom dia! I don't have enough good things to say about our trip to Portugal. From the sights to the food, we had a truly wonderful time. We started our trip in Lisbon - we decided to rent an apartment (we stayed here), which I was really happy with. Lisbon is often compared to San Francisco, which I can kinda see - their bridge was modeled after the Golden Gate and it's very hilly. It's also a beautiful city - tile work covers many of the buildings and the streets. We spent most of our time wandering the narrow streets of the Alfama, exploring the splender of the Praça do Comèrico and walking up and down many hills.

©all photos by me. More here.

ciao!

Image from here.
And we're off...see you in a couple weeks!

Image from here.

reading, watching, listening

Reading: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Watching: Birdsong, Masterpiece Theater

Listening: Fun, Some Nights

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the gem room

Image from here.
Apparently, I missed a lot of stuff on my first visit to the Museum of Natural History. On my second visit, I greatly enjoyed the gem room and Whoopi Goldberg-narrated planetarium show.

halston

If you have any interest in fashion, branding, the 1970's or Liza Minelli, you must watch Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston.