The small city of Sintra (perhaps better known in English in the older spelling of Cintra) lies between Lisbon and the Atlantic on a promontory of land between two gorges on the north side of the wellwooded Serra de Sintra. With its beautiful setting and equable climate it was an early choice as the summer seat of the
Portuguese royal family. The beauty of the scenery, combined with the magnificent subtropical vegetation and the nearness of the sea, is almost beyond compare, making Sintra one of the loveliest spots in the Iberian peninsula, wholly justifying Lord Byron's description of it as "glorious Eden".
Early in 1996 UNESCO included Sintra in its list of world cultural heritage sites. During the next few years increased efforts will be made to restore the town's unique architectural character and to ban private cars from the center in summer if possible.
Cityscape
Sintra is centerd on the Largo Raínha D. Amélia with the imposing Palácio Nacional de Sintra on its northern side. In front of the Palácio stands a Late Gothic pelourinho which has been made into a fountain.
In the Praça da República, on the southwest corner of the Largo Raínha D. Amélia, are the Igreja de Sao Martinho, originally a 12th C. church and subsequently much altered, and the Museu Municipal, the municipal museum, which holds the tourist information center as well.
Past Parque Liberdade, or Liberty Park, the Igreja de Santa Maria (another much altered 12th C. church) and the Convento da Trindade, lies the Sao Pedro part of town, with the parish church, and the location of a big market which is held every second and fourth Sunday in the month.
Immediately above the town, on its steep rocky mount, stands the Moorish castle which Afonso Henriques captured from the Arabs in 1147, and then, higher up, the Pena topped by its palace.
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