Convento dos Capuchos

The Convento dos Capuchos is 10km/6mi along the road to the Palácio da Pena southwest out of Sintra. The Capuchin monastery, in its woodland setting, was founded in 1560. On entering this remote monastery the visitor steps into another world. Some of the tiny monks' cells in which it was impossible to stand upright or to sleep fully stretched out are hewn out of the solid rock and were insulated against cold and damp with layers of cork.