After our brief tour around the small town of Sintra we did an hour long hike up the mountain to the National Palace of Pena. It's a Portugese castle that is arguably the biggest attraction in the area and the likely reason why so many people visit the town.
We arrived just a little before noon and bought tickets outside the gates of the property. I would actually recommend buying your tickets in advance though to avoid long lines. It was quite busy there during our visit in May so I can only imagine what its like in peak tourist season.
The walk from the ticket sales to the castle is about 15-20 minutes through the gardens and a large forest and you have to book a specific timeslot to go into the castle. We headed straight there without any dilly-dallying.
When the castle first came into view through the trees I was immediately impressed by it.
It's unique mix of colors, (bright yellow and red paint with intricate blue colored tiles) made it something quite special and unlike any castle that I had seen before.
We stopped briefly at the outer courtyard to take some photos but headed in shortly afterwards.
The line to get in was crazy long.
It snaked down the stairs and around the bend out of sight.
You are supposed to only line up for your allotted timeslot, but it was impossible to tell how long the line would take, so we got in immediately. After about 30 minutes we arrived at the entrance with about 5 minutes to spare.
Is it just me or do queues make other people anxious as hell? There was a couple in front of us that was driving me bonkers the entire time which really added to my anxiety.
They would constantly get out of line to go and explore the exterior of the castle and take photos of each other.
Then they'd come back like 5+ minutes later and get back in front of us. They did this multiple times to the point where it felt like we were just place holders for them.
I wasn't going to argue about it or anything (they spoke a different language besides) but I find that sort of thing really selfish and inconsiderate.
"Don't worry folks, you guys go and enjoy yourselves. I happen to love wasting my time in queues being bored so I'll just watch your spot for you..." *Rolls eyes so hard his head flips upside down.
Fucking twats.
Better yet... ("uh oh now he's ranting") let's just do away with the line all together. We will all just push and shove our way to the front and yell and scream over top of each other at the door guard.... I personally find that disorganized chaos tends to increase the level of calmness of large crowds and make things run more efficiently.... (note the sarcasm).
I don't think that I will ever understand the places that refuse to use queues and instead opt for the trample your neighbor, free for all approach. Okay I think I'm done. All of that is neither here nor there when it comes to the National Palace of Pena - it had a line, with only a few people who didn't care how it worked. Everyone else was fine.
All of that was just a little insight into my mind and why I refuse to wait in lines on vacation, and pass on most things that cost money.
I'm an anxious person and I don't need the extra stress.
Anyway, if you dont want to wait in line and if you have no desire to see the interior of the castle then you'll be happy to know that you're able to explore the courtyard and exterior with your ticket for the gardens. Going inside cost an additional fee but the exterior is included with the price of admission to the property.
The Interior
The interior of the castle was decorated beautifully. Many of the rooms were fully furnished and had plaques describing the rooms purpose and/or a little bit of history of what we were seeing.
I don't recall what all of the rooms were labeled as,
but most of the rooms were quite nice to experience.
One of the first things that you come to is the inner courtyard, also referred to as an atrium.
This area was the busiest spot in the castle and had a line that moved very slowly around the square on two floors.
The crowd did disperse a little as we continued our self guided tour though.
People stopped to read signs and view art pieces, which allowed others to move on ahead.
The level of detail in the rooms and the artwork were impressive.
I'd say that this particular palace was among the most decorated that I have seen in Europe so far.
Among the top 3 at the very least.
Not all castles show off the kitchens, so it's sort of a bonus (an added treat) when they do.
In my opinion, the kitchens are always one of the most interesting rooms to see in any castle,
especially if they showcase the tools and appliances used during the time period.
Eventually we finished up inside and headed back out to view the exterior and the panoramic look outs.
The back terrace was a particularly nice location.
It looks out over a wide forest with farmland, and townships in the distance.
The palace is surrounded by ramparts on at least three sides from what I remember.
On one side you can see the castle ruins that I mentioned in my previous post on the small town of Sintra.
We spent a decent chunk of time at the Palace of Pena, exploring the interior and then the gardens and the grounds. Overall, we really enjoyed our time there and thought that it was very much worth the visit.
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Wow! Such mesmerizing architecture.
I'm not anxious, but I'm claustrophobic with fears of being trapped, so I get more anxiety from being in traffic jams. If I'm a passenger, I might feel the need to get out and walk, and then have the driver pick me up (can't do that in every country), but if I'm driving, then I need to listen to my favourite music or something to distract me, and keep my thoughts positive... and real (without fantasies of being able to push a button for my car to have wings and fly). 🤣
I'm a good actress! I would just step up in the queue and when they returned, I will give them blank stares as if I'd never seen them before. I would continue to look blankly and pretend I didn't have a clue what was happening with no ability to comprehend whatever they might have been saying to me. I would have fun winding them up. 🤣
Did you secretly snap those photos inside the castle?
It's stunning and looks like a modern-day lodge. The kitchens and utensils are what fascinate me the most from different eras...
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Let me
cut this shortend my comment to not make a #MiniBlog of your post.🙃Being claustrophobic would definitely come with its challenges. Its surprising that you were able to live in a house boat. I would think that that would be a nightmare in that regard?
That would be hilarious to pretend that you had no clue haha. I wish I could do that sort of thing. I dislike confrontation and causing a scene though so I let a lot slide and just stew about it in my own head, or rant on Hive haha.
I just did it openly. I didn't see any restrictions against photography.
Haha! The first time I saw a narrowboat I had a panic attack just looking at it, till I entered and realized that it was open and airy on the inside. Still, it's a priority for me to have 2 doors - one at the bow and one at the stern. No matter how nice a boat is, I want to be able to exit from both ends, in case of emergency. #ICE
No, I have great self-control, so I can confront peacefully. I think people find that shocking sometimes because I will just stand calmly and give someone a lengthy peace of my mind without getting into a rage. My friends always laugh and say that it's only someone on drugs can voice concerns / respond that way without care. So my rage or calmness tend to have the same effect 🤣 #SpeakMyMind
Well, I'm happy you snapped all these lovely photos for me to live vicariously... therefore, if I'm ever in the area, I could opt to visit a different site... which is actually the very reason why some castles or museums might object to photography. haha! #ThankYou
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#MiniBlogsRule 😆
That makes sense about the having a door on each end.
That's a good skill to have. I don't think that anger and rage solve anything in a lot of cases. Often it just makes things way worse.
That's a good point about the photos. I haven't run into it too often. Probably very hard to police when there are so many people.
That's very true. Maybe sometimes I just refrain from taking photos to avoid problems... That was before Hive though... I haven't done much of this kind of tour in recent years:)
Just sayin yall are beasts. Lovely mini blogs lol
🤣
How much was the rent for this place though 😂
Jokes aside, I am amazed how well maintained, and still beautifully decorated it is. Someone could just move in tomorrow!
I love the colours
Yeah it was decorated and furnished to the 9's. So that was pretty cool to see.
Rent would be out of my league, that's for sure. Haha
Wow that is a cool castle. Those colors are so bright! I was enjoying the pictures of the outside and thought that would be good. Then I saw the inside pictures, so beautiful and interesting. Thanks for the tour. :)
Yeah the inside was possibly even better than the outside. Haha. That's not always the case with castles.
That is true, especially when you love architecture as much as I do. The inside has to be pretty special. The things about the inside is that gives a a chance to see how the people lived and really imagine it during that time period.
Yeah that part is really neat. Even little things like learning that wall paper used to be hand painted and therefore super expensive, so people would only wall paper like one tiny room. Little historical tidbits like that are interesting.
Thats a heck of an adventure man. Love the castle and that sweet clocktower. The inside of all the rooms, feels like i was just there. Keep rockin Leaky, cheers to good moments...
That dam couple too lol
!LUV
Yeah castles are always neat to see. I like imagining the time when people actually lived there. Different world really
Such different times but us as people are at the same time, still the same but yet advanced. I often refer to the medieval ages in respect to our primal instincts. People had good speech, strength and intelligence already. Wild bro, thanks for the follow.
Yeah that's true. I never thought of it that way. Very interesting and thoight provoking.
The palace is indeed beautiful but I'm curious to know if no one lives there, is it now more like a museum where people just go tour around to see ancient stuffs take pictures and leave?
Queues stress me out too especially if it's the congested type, I end up with a headache and TBH if such couple were in front of me doing what they did, I'd just move forward and make sure they don't stand in front of me anymore. Some People should learn to stay put for once in their lives.
Yeah it's more of a museum or national monument. I don't think that anyone lives there.
Yeah that couple was super annoying. I felt like moving forward and blocking them from the line would just create a scene, especially because we spoke different languages. We couldn't communicate with them properly lol
That'd be where the fun comes in. Just tell em you don't understand what they're saying and stay where you are. They'll go behind you if they fuss over it then you both speak what you understand and keep moving till you're outta there. It'll make a good comic video 🤣
Haha that's a good idea. I'll keep it in mind for next time.
😁🥂
So beautiful! My need to visit Portugal just skyrocketed! Thank you for sharing :)
Glad I could help 😁
The palace is very beautiful and very well designed. Inside it is very nicely decorated
It was quite beautiful inside indeed. 😁
I must say a very interesting place in Portugal to visit! Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome. Thanks for stopping by. ✋️
What a colorful palace and inside design is majestic
Yes, very colorful. Very unique in that way. It really stands out.
Beautiful photos!
Thanks!
The place is so nice. The color of the castle is also bright and cheerful. How I wish I could visit that place. Thank you for the well written virtual tour of yours.
You're welcome. Hopefully you will see it in person one day.
Thank you I hope so too.
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Oh I didn't realize. Thanks 😁
Wow! such an amazing place. Love the architectures too
Yeah it was quite special
amazing post and nice photos
Thanks I'm glad you liked them. 👍