Sintra and Things

This weekend was quite busy. Friday night I went to Cristina's house because she invited me to her birthday party. It was interesting. I've never been to a party with so much alcohol. There had to be 2 bottles of wine or hard liquor per person. There wasn't anything non alcoholic set out, not even water, so I had to scrounge through Cristina's fridge to find some juice because everyone kept trying to get me a drink. Also, there was so much smoking that I couldn't breathe. At least half of the people were smoking at any one time. But other than that, the party was fun. 

Here is a random picture of the building I work in. It's several stories tall, but it's hard to find an angle that will show that. 

I spent Saturday in a little town called Sintra on the outskirts of Lisbon. Some of the main sites in Sintra include 2 royal palaces, a Moorish castle which was renovated and used by Portuguese royals as well, and a large estate known as Quina da Regaleira.

This is a view of the main part of town. The outline of the Moorish castle is on top of the hill.

This is taken from the courtyard of the Sintra National Palace, built primarily in the 15th and 16th centuries, and remained a popular retreat in the 19th century. It has two huge conical chimneys over the kitchen.

One of the rooms of the Sintra Palace. I love the tilework.

Exterior of Sintra Palace. It's so different from the Renaissance architecture I'm more accustomed to in Europe.

My favorite site was probably Quinta da Regaleira. It's a large estate with the most beautiful grounds ever. It has fun caves and secret passageways and other really beautiful architecture. It was  designed in the early 1900s by an Italian architect.

The palace

The next three photos are pictures from the grounds

Then I went to the Pena Palace, which was re-designed in the 1800s by a German architect. It is quite charming.

View from Pena Palace

Finally, I went to the Moorish Castle. This was built in the 8th century by the Moors and fortified and restored in the 14th and 18th centuries by the Portuguese. 

Also, on the train ride back to Lisbon, I noticed nearly all of the suburbs of Lisbon are high rises, which is interesting because close around Lisbon, buildings are only 4 or 5 stories tall because many of them are quite old. I can't believe how many people must live on the outskirts of Lisbon though to warrant such a sea of high rises.

Today I went to church again. The missionaries that were in the ward transferred (to my dismay because one of them was American and it was nice to have someone who spoke English around) and now there are sisters in the area. Here is a picture of the inside of the church. I think it's really lovely and unique.

Then  I went to the Palacio São Bento, which is only about a 3 minute walk from where I live. It's the house of the Portuguese parliament.