Palaces and Portuguese History

We’ve met up with our Road Scholar group of around 20 people. The tour focuses on history, significant architectural sites and picturesque villages, all while staying in historic hotels in Portugal and Southern Spain.

The morning featured a lecturer from the University of Lisbon who did a great job of covering 2,000 years of Portuguese history in two hours. (Really, she made it a bit like telling a story!)

We won’t go into all that here, but one thing to note is that in 1755 there was a catastrophic earthquake (>7.7) with subsequent fires and a tsunami, which destroyed nearly all of Lisbon’s buildings and other adjoining areas (the Moroccans mentioned it too). There aren’t a lot of structures left that are older than the 18th century—although remnants of older buildings have survived and were renovated and built upon, so many buildings may have medieval antecedents.

Anyway, after the lecture, we had a little repeat of yesterday’s itinerary (which we knew would happen), but it was different enough. We drove along the Atlantic coast and had time to wander Sintra on our own. We chose to go to the palace in town (not the red-and-yellow palace on the hilltop). This particular palace survived the earthquake and is considered the best-preserved medieval royal residence in Portugal, being inhabited more or less continuously from at least the early 15th century to the late 19th century. We’re glad we went—check out our photos of the quirky painted ceilings (magpie room, swan room), the wood decorative cabinets and the plentiful tile wall decorations.

Heading back toward Lisbon, our afternoon field trip brought us to the Palace of Queluz, a Rococo style royal palace, with lots of gold and mirrors. The mirrors served to bring more light into the rooms. We didn’t care for the style so much, but it certainly illustrated the wealth that the royal families had accumulated from the trade goods brought in from India and Brazil by this seafaring nation.Read more