Sintra - Palácio da Pena

Following the road uphill from the Castelo dos Mouros, after about 1km/0.75mi we reach the entrance into the park of the Palácio Nacional da Pena, or Castelo da Pena, perched on its rocky crag (alt. 528m/1,732ft).

This palace was also a royal summer residence and was built, as a medieval style castle, for Ferdinand von Coburg-Koháry, Queen Maria II's consort (Fernando II), by Colonel von Eschwege 1840-50, who was instructed to incorporate elements of a 16th C. convent, and otherwise mix various building styles. Gothic, Manueline, Renaissance, Rococo, Moorish and Far Eastern features are all detectable, and Eschwege also incorporated Portuguese examples, such as modeling the principal tower on the Tower of Belém. Probably the finest