Quinta de Regaleira

After a fantastic morning at Palace of Pena, our tour headed to one of Sintra's more unique destinations: Quinta de Regaleira.

foreground flowers, background palace. 

A bit about Quinta de Regaleira:

In the late 1800s, Quinta de Regaleira was purchased by the eccentric millionaire Carvalho Monteiro, who wished to transform it into a summer house for inspiration and entertaining. In addition to a small palace, Monteiro also designed extensive grounds featuring towers, grottos, lakes, and an elaborate network of underground tunnels. Monteiro wanted the grounds to evoke feelings of magic and mystery, and incorporated many symbols and figures relating to alchemy, the Knights Templar, Dante, and other works he found to be particularly inspiring.


In a nutshell?

So, so, cool. While the palace itself was neat to walk through, the grounds absolutely stole the show. There were tunnels, labyrinths, and lakes. There were hidden entrances to caves, stepping stones across ponds, and intricate underground towers. It almost reminded me of a playground for big kids-- a sort of magical, Disney-esque garden full of secret passages and pathways. Carvalho Monteiro may have been eccentric and over-the-top, but wow! He definitely designed an awesome garden.

entrance to quinta de regaleira. after the brown and grey of lausanne,
the vibrant greens were a very welcome treat. 

entrance to one of  the many caves. 

underground lake. 

beautiful, crumbling fountain. 

hello, ben! (climbing thins, as per usual...)

so many flowers! so, naturally, I decided to take close-up photographs
of them :) 

underground grotto. the bright green stuff? some sort of algae/scum
growing on the top of the pond. 

stepping stones to get across the pond. don't fall in!

inside another network of tunnels. 

gorgeous stone tower.  

can you spot what's "growing" on this tree?

it's BOOKS! book tree = amazing. can I please have
one of these in my backyard?

gorgeous, isn't it? just behind the fountain is hidden entrance to yet another
network of tunnels.  

"the inverted tower"- a castle tower leading deep underground. 

friends poking out to wave hello!

I only took one photo of the actual residence-
it was intricate and interesting, but like I said,
in this case- the ground totally stole the show.