Lisbon District

We had a great sleep and were up at 6:30 to get breakfast and Uber to the meeting spot for our tour day. We found our guide easily and we had two guides b/c one was training. We were a small group of 8. One of the couples was from Quebec City. We had a nice lunch of tapas with them and learned that they both work in Cancer Research🥰
Our tour centered in Sintra, the location of the Moorish Castle Sintra National Palace, Moorish Castle, Regaleira (inverted, initiation and inverted well) and Pena Palace.

On the way to Sintra, we saw the Aquaduct which survived the big earthquake b/c it was newly built.  It was used until 60's. A story shared was about a
serial killer who threw btwn 50-70  people over the aquaduct. The police thought these people committed suicide.
But police saw him commit the crime one day. He threw a person over the side of the aquaduct.  He was the last to be executed. They kept his head to study his brain. His head is in the Univ museum. The aquaduct is now a museum.

A castle is a fort to protect something
A palace is considered a house,  like a mansion

Sintra is the location where the Royal Family came to their summer Palace. This made it a popular place for people to travel to.

Sintra is Unesco World Heritage Site

9 gates in 1999 with Johnny Depp. The movie takes place inside Beister House in Sintra

Dante's Divine Comedy poem describes how one goes through hell, pergatory and paradise.

The inverted well reflects this and has 9 levels of hell. Each level representing a different sin.

There was a Secret Society of free masons. To belong one needed 3 things.

Luigi Manini, one of the well creators, wanted to be part of the society and needed 3 things to belong:
Proof of importance, $ and ritual (well). Antony, his partner, who was very brilliant creatively, had the $ (millions from gold, silver, coffee) which was why Luigi paired with him on this venture.
Their goal, together, was to build a perfect society

9 is close to perfection which is 10, but you can never reach it. Everything they did relates to the #9

9 levelsx15 steps = 135 (1+3+5=9)

27 m deep (2+7=9)

9 floors in well

3 tunnels exits

Steps on water at the end, to prove you could walk on water.
The free masons saw this well as a rebirth going through 9 months of birth then finish on the water and emerge reborn.
It starts with an entrance in the North on the dark side and emerges in the South or light side

There are many nautical symbols in the architecture because of the proximity to the sea ( port holes for windows, knotted rope, shells, fish, etc)

We walked the 45 minutes back to our Airbnb and on the way found a nice restaurant to eat and enjoy a drink.Read more