The National Palace of Sintra

Sintra for the locals is popularly known as quick getaway from the rising temperatures of Lisbon on a blistering summer day. No wonder it is the summer residence of Portugal’s royalty, the House of Braganca. Kings and Queens lived in Sintra up until 1910 when the Portuguese revolution took place extraditing the royal dynasty out of the country.

The day started cold and foggy. Outside the balcony of my hotel room I can see the ruins of Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle) on top of the mountain, sitting pensively, and covered in white sheath. There was light rain outside too so I dismissed the thought of going up the mountains for the day. I’m visiting the two palaces nearby for my day’s itinerary, the National Palace of Sintra which is just a stone’s throw away from my hotel, and the Quinta de Regaleira, which is a 10-minute walk from the center of Sintra. After which I’ll spend the rest of the day in this charismatic village, and hopefully the next day would be better weather so I can go up the mountains and enjoy the two other glorious castles.


The National Palace of Sintra from the main square of the village (taken on a different sunny day). The building is not very impressive outside, but inside yes! Next foto is the pretty chapel of the palace, Chapel Tribune.


View from the palace to the village. The weather wasn't great at all but the mist gave the already romantic location a very dreamy (and lazy) setting. A simple Manueline style window in the middle foto. On the right is the palace's Central Patio and Bath Grotto.

When arriving in Sintra and taking the 10-minute winding walk along the lush valley (with interesting sculptures placed on the roadside) from the train station to the historical center, you could see the National Palace standing out the horizon with its two white bottle-shaped chimneys distinctively dominating the mountain village skyline. The chimneys are quite a design, they house the kitchen of the palace, and inside the hollowed room you could hear your voice vibrate and echo through due to the concave ceiling.

Anywho, it looks like the entrance to the National Palace of Sintra is free. The lady behind the desk in the tourist office quickly checked me out and then gave me a ticket and told me – it’s free. I wonder if she randomly checks out tourists and decide who she gives free tickets?


This is King Sebatiao's Room that I really liked and the decorative ceramic tiles of relief vine leaves on its walls in blue and green color scheme.


Another room I like is the Magpies Room (Stag Room). History said that the king kissed one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting and gossip throttled after that. Obviously the king was not pleased. To put the gossip to rest, he created this room with Magpies on the ceiling to remind the women of their gossipping. Magpies are noisy! Next is the grand dome ceiling of the Coat of Arms Room.


This is the Magpies Room on the left foto and check out the period furniture set, the fireplace and the striking tiled walls in Moorish Mudejar fashion. Middle foto is the beautiful Coat of Arms Room, a gold domed room with azulejos on its walls, polychromed ceramic tin-glazed tiles. This period chair, looks Chippendale ala Queen Anne style, is huge and can fit in two male adults easily.

Now for some tidbits of history, but promising that I will not drown you readers with details of information as you can find them all online anyway. The first resident of this palace was King Dinis in the 13th century, then King Joao, King Duarte, King Manuel I who did major renovations and additions, and in the 19th century, King Carlos I and Queen Amelia as the last occupants before Portugal became a republic.

The palace is quite unique as it shows different architectural styles, Gothic Renaissance, Moorish Mudejar and Manueline. I find the Moorish and Manueline styles interesting mainly because of its geometrical and intricate patterns. I am also partial to the blue and green color scheme when mixed. Fact is, I’m thinking of making a huge painting at home for the living room (a project I have been putting off for years) in bright blue and green hues.


The palace's kitchen was quite remarkable, it was different than most noble kitchens I have seen. Middle foto is the Swan Room (the ceiling have swan paintings), the biggest room of the palace. And last foto is a cute little nook I discovered. I can sit in here and read a book over a cup of tea during a rainy afternoon.

More fotos can be found here: National Palace of Sintra - Sintra, Portugal

I think my favorite rooms are, firstly, King Sebatiao’s bedchamber with the relief ceramic tile patterns of climbing vines on the walls. Then there’s the Magpies Room with its sturdy period dining set, think they are renaissance or could be tudor. The ambience of this room is really nice, I can see myself spending my days here if I am a resident of this palace. Lastly but not the least, the Coat of Arms Room that has a dramatic dome ceiling showing the Portuguese coat-of-arms surmounted by a winged dragon at the peak of the eight-sided vault, flanked in each segment by King Manuel I’s children and, at the lower level, by the arms of seventy-two families from the Portuguese nobility. This room is amazing.

It’s said that the National Palace of Sintra is the best preserved palace or castle in Portugal. I am quite glad to have visited the palace. She doesn’t look very impressive from the outside, but from the inside, she definitely is.

The big plus is it was OK to take fotos inside!
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Waking up at 3 in the morning

Is not a good sign when the first thing you think about is WORK.

I know that I am very passionate about my job, my career and my superiors always say I am very dedicated and I am good with what I do, but it’s strange to just suddenly wake up at 3 in the morning and think about work. Think about the clients I have to get back to, what is the freaking strategy of my top accounts, how am I going to convert them to additional business ergo euros, how can I be more efficient in my sales process, how much more to go for the target, oh the pending items... etcetera and etcetera. Am I stressed? Umm, I think -- NOT YET. I am just hyper like how I am.

This morning I had a chat with my colleague and told him how lucid I was at early dawn going through the list of “action items” I have for work when during the day I must have forgotten them due to other priorities and just pretty much an overload of things to do.

My other colleague said, “Well you are not the only one waking up at odd hours and thinking about work!”

OK, I hope this is not the norm?

I am juggling things left and right, right now – something I am good at admittedly. I am forever the multi-tasking queen. But this waking up at 3 in the morning and randomly thinking about work is alarming. This has got to stop. Pronto.

Anyway, I should be scheduling an appointment with my doctor for immunity against the H1N1 virus aka the Mexican flu. I’m off to that part of the globe after the holidays. For work.

I also initially wanted to fly over to Munchen for a short weekend in December before the holidays but thinking now of just hopping over near the border. Maybe Bonn, Cologne or Aachen. Even Xanten. Munich is much better during the warmer months and I want to hike all the way up to the Neuschwanstein Castle too.

I’ll post more stories about Sintra, Oslo and Bantayan next.
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My beautiful quaint Sintra

The long weekend in Sintra was a blast for me. I love, love pretty antiquated little villages and I never tire of them, ever. I’m always looking for new charming villages to add to my list of places to visit, so there is more to come!

The bucolic village of Sintra is not very far from Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Just 45 minutes by train from Rossio train station. It is the last stop of the Sintra line. Public transport in Portugal is dirt cheap but I took a cab from Sintra going to the airport because I didn’t want to miss my early morning flight back to the Netherlands. Total flight time Lisbon to Amsterdam is 2 hours and 35 minutes, and Portugal is 1 hour behind.


My view from my hotel room balcony, the verdant valley and the old center of Sintra. Check out that rose pink villa on the lower right hand side, she intrigues me.


Me in my hotel room balcony and next foto is the view again to the old center. On top of the mountain sits the ruins of Castelo de Mouros (Moors Castle) enveloped in a fog, built during the 9th century by the Moors/Muslims of North Africa (now Morocco and Algeria).


Scenic views of charming Sintra mountain village from the National Palace of Sintra taken during a rainy Sunday.


More fotos of Sintra old center. I think it was on this restaurant - Alcobaca Restaurante that I had my last dinner. The gambas on cream sauce which was a house specialty was superb and highly recommended. On the right foto is the main cobbled street that leads to the Sintra old village from Placa da Republica.


Here is a quaint side street of Sintra devoid of tourists. November is clearly out of tourist season in Portugal which is quite nice because you don't have to compete with the hordes that trek to Sintra daily in the warmer months. On the next foto is the National Palace of Sintra taken from the winding road across the valley.

Sintra is situated high up on the Sintra hills on the western part of the country overlooking the Atlantic coast to the west and Lisboa to the east. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and renowned for its 19th century Romantic architecture. Lord Byron, the English poet and politician wrote to his friend, “I must just observe that the village of Cintra in Estremadura is the most beautiful in the world.” I do not agree with Lord Byron on the most beautiful in the world statement but my hotel room view in Sintra, I must say, was gorgeous. The balcony is facing the lush green valley and the historical part of the village with rustic pastel colored buildings.

The old center of Sintra is quite small and hilly. The alleyways are narrow and like most touristy chocolate villages, the main street is flanked with inviting café restaurants, gourmet shops, handicraft stores, souvenir shops and sub alleyways leading to yet another narrow welcoming street.

I did a lot of walking in the village and have visited 4 castles – palaces (Castelo dos Mouros, Palacio de Pena, National Palace of Sintra and Seteais Palace). The palaces were simply breathtaking! Magical in one word. And the gardens and parks surrounding the estates were enchanting, poetic and fairytale-like. Stories and fotos of these will be posted later.

The winding walk from the train station to the old village is also nice. I took the cab when I arrived in Sintra as it was late and I was utterly exhausted from carrying my luggage all afternoon in Lisbon. My shoulders were dead beat from the carry on, they were protesting and hurt like hell. So the next day I back tracked and walked from the old center to the train station. It was a beautiful fresh nature walk, the scent of magnolias blossoming were wafting in the air and the view of Sintra from the winding road across the green valley and the National Palace jutting majestically up to the skies was exquisite. I take enjoyment in these little things.


I just love, love the colourful laundry hanging out in the open air! The Fonte da Pipa (Fountain of Casks, a public fountain) in decorated classic blue tile work is located in the historical zone of Sintra and dates back to the late 17th century.


Here is the Moorish Fountain on the roadside on the way to Sintra old village; a typical devout Catholic blue classic tile artwork on the wall of a house in the old center, and a narrow steep staircased alley leading to a pretty and inviting little shop.

One evening I had dinner in a fine dining restaurant right by the Placa da Republica. I chatted up the waiter asking for some advice what’s best on the menu, and later on how to get to the palace up in the mountains. As typical as my conversations with waiters end up, he asked me where I am from. He can’t seem to figure out where I am from and when I told him I am from Holland, his reply was a raised eyebrow, lol. I know; I am not blonde, OK! Anywho, it turns out that one of the cooks is a Filipino, so he excitedly asked the other waiter to go to the kitchen and fetch him for me.

Also in the same place, in Placa da Republica, I discovered a cool wine bar serving €250 Portuguese port and sausages lighted in fire. I didn’t cave in to the €250 port but tasted a cheaper €50 version, for free. The woman was subtly trying to get me to buy but I can’t finish a bottle in 2 days and I don’t want to check in my luggage on my flight back to Amsterdam. The sausage was good though except for the blood sausage that tasted strange, and the Quiejo de Nisa goat’s cheese was yummy with my red wine and port!


The smell of burned chestnuts filled the air and I can't resist the temptation! This is what you get for €2. Of course I could not resist the Presunto ham too (Portuguese traditional ham of Chaves which is similar to the Spanish Jamon).


My long and late lunch - Portuguese house red wine (later I had Port), Quiejo de Nisa goat's cheese, thin slices of Presunto ham and 2 types of Portuguese sausages (the dark one is blood sausage which wasn't to my liking) lightly grilled on open fire on a ceramic plate.


The wine bar lady preparing my sausages on a ceramic plate - she adds some oil underneath the ceramic grill plate, then she lighted it with fire. Lord Byron, the English poet and politician is quite famous in Sintra, a guest who fell in love with the place so I heard. Ginja is a Portuguese alcoholic drink made from Morello cherries and tastes like rum. It's best drank with the little chocolate cups but I abhor alcohol with chocolates so I prefer to drink them straight.

More fotos can be found here: Sintra - Portugal

I also met a Dutch couple in the same wine bar and we talked for the rest of the afternoon as they told me about their life in Portugal. They sold their business in Limburg 7 years ago when they were 56 and bought a house in Portugal, a bit up north in Quimbra. For 6 months they live in Portugal and traveling around the south of Europe and for the rest of the months they spend it in the Netherlands. It was nice chatting with the older couple. I later found out they were staying at the same hotel.

In another restaurant in Sintra, which was on my last evening, I finished a glass of Moscatel, a Portuguese aperitif suggested to me by the waiter, and a half liter of Colares red wine. Then back at my hotel, the Ginja was waiting for me. I slept like a baby until the alcohol control died down and I woke up at 2am, lol.

When traveling, I tend to be a lone wolf minding my own business and being content in doing things alone. A lesson I learned from this trip is to take things slowly, one at a time. To be more aware of my surroundings, listen to the heaves and sighs around me. To be more open to meet people along the way. To smile at people. (alright I am really getting old)
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In Sintra, Portugal now

Hello people, I am in Sintra, Portugal right now, a UNESCO world heritage village having a short relaxing weekend holiday. Away from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam, and also from Lisbon. Lisbon was nice but for this trip I prefer the village-y feel, the nature and the tranquil surroundings around me.

Me in Rossio square in Lisbon, Portugal. Not the best foto I got but I didn't have many fotos taken with me on it in Lisbon.

My hotel in Sintra is really nice. It is facing the valley and the historical center with the old buildings and houses, and the castle ruins on top of the mountain as my view (sometimes I only see a blanket of mist hovering above the tip of the mountain). I think I have chosen a perfect place to unwind. I really need this from time to time.

See below a video during KLM touchdown in Lisbon. The pilot went too fast with the landing and the plane was swaying sideways, we bumped hard on the runway.

Tomorrow will be a long day... will be visiting the castles, the little historical center of Sintra which is just a stone's throw away from my hotel (actually my view from the balcony is the old center), take a walk in the lush valley, enjoy Portuguese seafood cuisine and many, many more.

I'll have more tales later when I am back in the Netherlands.

Alright, till then!
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Itchy feet but can't decide

Since its Q4, the most stressful time for every sales and business professional, I am grounding myself from traveling long distance. My friend, Blondine is dying to take a week holiday in NYC or Cuba as originally planned. I’d love to really. I mean I would have booked the ticket now, pronto!, but I’m a responsible corporate slave so I have changed plans and have been looking at nearby destinations for a nice long weekend instead.

The problem right now is I can’t make a decision, and I want to fly out next weekend already.

I’ve checked Cotswolds in the UK, Carcassonne in the south of France, Valencia in Spain, Venice in Italy, Andorra, even Paris. All except Paris I’d love to spend more days than just a long weekend.

I have a luxurious problem okay but I need to make a decision this weekend. I want some culture, some nature and some relaxation. Sigh...

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Traipsing on the pricey streets of Oslo

After my Oslo trip, I think I hit the wall. Big time. It’s like a brick that hit me hard on the head and I lay there unconscious on the floor for a time. Unlike my other travels where I totally get hyperactive and ecstatic to work on my fotos and spend time daydreaming and rekindling all the travel experiences in my head, Oslo gave me this thick wall of complacence, and utter nothingness. It was as if I had a withdrawal.

Maybe because I wasn’t so charmed at the city at all?

As Dutchman put it with sarcasm, Oslo is a “uitgegroiede dorp”, which means a big or developed village. The city is relatively small per metropolitan standards but quite compact. It’s just about Amsterdam Centrum only except that the city center of Amsterdam has a different appeal. Eerily crammed with dark crooked houses and lined with romantic medieval canals whilst holding up this down to earth alternative jive, carefree yet mysterious. Of course plus 250,000 more people. Amsterdam will always be my favorite city.


Karl Johans Gate and the Norwegian Parliament (also on the same street) is always lively in the evening. Lots of bars and cafes in this area.


Scenes in Karl Johans Gate, the Grand Hotel and cafes along the street.


A pretty building along Karl Johans Gate and the National Theater nearby.


This is the University of Oslo. There was a fair going on when we were there. Next foto is an interesting looking fountain.

What stands out with Oslo though, and I guess all throughout Norway, is the exorbitant prices. The most expensive city in the world, I reckon. Everything is twice the price of most European cities. A croissant is about NOK25 (€3), a sandwich NOK50-70 (€6-8), a cup of coffee NOK40 (€5), a beer NOK60-80 (€7-8), a glass of wine NOK80 (€10), starters at restaurants range from NOK110-210 (€13-25), main course at NOK250-350 (€30-41). If you dine and wine, no bells and whistles, nothing like a Michelin star restaurant but just a decent 3-course meal with coffee for 2 after, you easily cough up €200!

So, yeah, after a few days in the city you tend to calculate everything you spend, lol.


Having drinks at the 3 Brothers cafe restaurant in Karl Johans Gate.


Looks like the Norwegians take the stop sign seriously. A colleague told me he thinks its for the colour blind people. There was a woman on stilts who was pestering everyone she meets on the streets!


The Royal Palace in Oslo overlooking Karl Johans Gate. Oslo was called Christiania in the old days.


The Royal Palace and the Royal Palace guard. That's me on the grounds of the palace.

It’s hard to explain the ambience of Oslo but it is very “degelijk”, something about it with the “very proper” feel that margins alongside what is boring, a word that I hate to call it with because Oslo is quite pretty and in the evening, the city kids become highly intoxicated with alcohol and go prancing about in the discotheques. That's not boring at all right but I simply do not understand, with the high cost of living, these kids are loosely spending their money on booze.

On Saturday, I only fell asleep after 3AM when the bar and discotheque across our hotel closed for the night. The music was deafening; it was insane. The walls of the hotel room throbbed and the floors felt like the basement was going to give way and swallow up the bed I am lying in. Girls outside were screaming uncontrollably and I hear glass breaking. I jumped out of bed and peaked outside the window ready to witness some CSI action but instead I see incoherent blonde kids traipsing slip shoddily on the streets.

I was telling this story to friends and they were like, “Why weren’t the two of you partying across the street instead of sleeping in early like elderly people?”

Uh-huh. I succumbed. We are definitely elderly people.


This is the Oslo City hall which I think is an ugly building. The flowers in the park in front of the building were pretty though. The next foto is the square leading to Aker Brygge (will post another entry about this soon).


Of course, there were trolls in Norway! A very handy way to move around Oslo is by bike. You can rent them in the tourist shops for about €10 per person for 24 hours which is about the same price for a local but for a year of use!

Oh, and what is it with young Norwegian girls and glossy skin tone stockings? They come in groups in Karl Johan’s Gate clad in the same super mini skirt attire and glossy skin tone stockings in high slinky heels. Ah, the come back of the Spice Girls Nordic v2009. Maybe it’s the fashion trend in Oslo, glossy skin tone stockings, even if its almost freezing out there.

There also seemed to be a sub culture of older women and beer + cigarettes. Women in pairs and in groups come together for beers in the evening and they always seem to be smoking the whole time. There is definitely a high price tag to smoking in Norway. A cigarette pack costs €10-€12, obviously bloated with tax, but heck no, this does not intimidate the real smokers. Like France and the United Kingdom, countries where women smoke like chimneys, Norway is a good runner up.

What about the men? The boys? Um, they are quite good looking but they look a bit gay to me. The older ones tend to grow beards like Kenny Rogers.


Oslo Central Station and the big tiger guarding it.


Modern glass buildings in Oslo near the Central Station. Next foto is a mural painting on the walls of Oslo Central Station, really nice.


The buildings in Oslo city center are partly Art Nouveau (jugendstil) inspired, athough these buildings on the fotos above might not be the best representation.

More fotos of Oslo here: Oslo, Norway

As for museums, there were quite a number of them, many with free entrance (Thank you! The Dutch can learn from this but as we all know the Dutch will always try to earn money from anything. What more if it breathes?) but some were located in the outskirts of the city. I managed to see a few in between, leaving the Dutchman at the hotel one time to work on his laptop while I went to the National Museum nearby. I can’t leave Oslo without seeing “The Scream” of Edvard Munch.

When I finally saw the painting, I felt sad. Not because the painting channeled those poignant emotions to me but because I didn’t feel anything. I stared at “The Scream” and did not feel anything. Strange, maybe I was expecting too much.

On the other hand, there was another painting of Edvard Munch that caught me, so forceful that I stood there mesmerized. I was so drawn to it. It was a huge, almost life size canvas of a sick child in bed with an older woman sitting beside her. The whole painting was dark and evoked of gloom—the title, “The Sick Child”. I can feel the utter grief of the characters, the desperation, the lost future and the ultimate message that life is so fragile, so fleeting. It was so sad. I felt like there was a lump on my throat. Edvard Munch spoke to me.

I did not feel bad leaving the museum after. I may have come for something else but I gained from finding another. Nothing was laid to waste.
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Blogging mojo

I'm having some blogging withdrawals lately. I don't know but I am just not in the mood to blog. Maybe I am just tired from work.

Not sure really when I'm going to have my blogging mojo back.
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Birthdays, Kaapse Bossen, Chestnuts and Maarten Maartenshuis

Last weekend was a busy one for me. Saturday went shopping with Blondine in Amsterdam. Had coffee at the Americain Hotel—those huge period leather armchairs in the restaurant right by the front windows are so comfy, had lunch in Caffe PC in PC Hooftstraat, then after shopping had high tea and some drinks at MoMo Restaurant, Bar and Lounge—oh, their lemon pie is really yummy, highly recommended, more like a dessert thing than a snack.

I made sure to buy a gift for brother-in-law for his birthday celebration the next day. His birthday gift request, a kitchen apron. You know, in Dutch culture it’s normal to tell close friends and relatives attending your birthday what you prefer to receive as a gift. The Dutch are practical folks, they want to give something that the celebrant actually can use. These Dutchies obviously don’t have a weakness for surprises!

The Maarten Maartenshuis built circa 1901 is a small castle in the Kaapse Bossen in Doorn. The manor can be rented for events and is quite popular as a wedding location.

I sneaked inside and took a foto of the coat of arms hanging on the walls of the hallway.


More fotos of the manor and the terrace on the front courtyard.

Anyway, for Dutch brother-in-law birthday celebration, we all went to the forest, the "Kaapse Bossen" in Doorn. We’ve been here many times and I've blogged about this place before. It’s one of those nice (secret) places to go for a picnic because this estate has a small castle and an outside terrace in the middle of the forest. There are coffee tables and chairs on its frontyard grounds that the public can use. Moreover there is a big and open grass yard that the children can play (they played football, and later, hide and seek). The kids are almost grown up and one day they will start bringing someone called "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" to family birthday gatherings.

The little castle here is called Maarten Maartenshuis and on top of the entrance doorway you can see a sun signage. Before this manor was called what it is today, it was originally known as “zonheuvel”, in English, sun hill or maybe sunny hill.


I don't have a clue to the names of these plants (and their fruits or flowers), but surely the red olive-shaped fruit is from the pine tree family.


Chestnut season now! The prickly covering can hurt as hell so be careful when picking them and peeling the nuts away from their porcupine shells.


Autumn always has lovely colours especially in the forest. Autumn is my favorite season.


Cool fotos of the kids in the forest. They are still kids, they are very active and like to climb everywhere.


This is the koetshuis (a storage locker room of the castle) which is now a restaurant and a multi-functional place.

There was also a wine tasting event in the afternoon in the castle but by the time it started we have left for the forest already searching for chestnuts. I managed to take a peak inside the castle's lobby and hallway. I must say they have some nice antique-looking furnishings.

And, its chestnut season now! The forests are full of them! Dutchman pleaded with me using his I-can't-break-a-glass puppy look not to bring the nuts home. He said I can pick them up for the Dutch family but please please not to bring them home because he knows I will never do anything on them and just let the little brown things accumulate dust somewhere in the kitchen. Ugh, I’m such a lazy slob when it comes to these things.

Anywho, I have another Dutch birthday family feast to attend to this weekend. ‘Tis the Dutch family birthday season again stretching all the way until January 2010. Unfortunately I will be going alone because the Dutchman is somewhere in the Caribbean right now for work, precisely in an island called Tortola.

Sounds familiar eh? I watched the Pirates of the Caribbean Movie the other week and Captain Jack Sparrow was saying something about sailing the Flying Dutchman ship to Tortola… and now... the Dutchman, my Dutchman has just flown into Tortola. You get what I mean?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the fotos above.
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