Inside the Palace at Sintra
I took lots of photos of the interior. There were so many beautiful things and grand rooms it was hard to capture some of the massive decorations. One of the highlights was the Heraldic Hall which was the expression of King Manuel 1 in the last 1400’s. His coat of arms is at the center of the ceiling showing him as the top of society. The nobility is represented by the coats of arms of 72 of the most important families. There is an inscription that circles the room explaining the society’s hierarchy. The rest of the tiles depict pictures of the day.
The dining room had a fabulous chandelier as its centerpiece along with a lovely fireplace.
Also note the beautiful carved marble door frame on the far wall.
An up close picture of the dining room chairs. They are embossed leather seats and mahogany frames.
Most of the wooden furniture is made of mahogany that came from Mozambique in Africa and has primarily silver inlays. I’ve posted more furniture photos in the Gallery. Some of the furnishings in the Gallery come from the bedrooms including what the queen’s bathroom looked like. One item I wanted to highlight though is the mirror in the queen’s dressing room which is gold but has candle holders on the sides for light.
There were several rooms with themes often depicted by the ceiling paintings. Below is the photo of the swan room. There was also a magpie room so painted because the king thought the women spent too much time in there chattering like magpies.
The palace had its own chapel. Although off limits to visitors, a viewing area was allowed on a hallway that overlooked the chapel below. I should say that no flash was allowed inside so the lighting may be a bit off in some of my photos with dark areas that didn’t show up well.
One item I really liked was the colored chandelier in the queen’s dressing room. Not as grand as other ones, but noticeably different with accents of colored glass.
Finally, the view from one of the palace’s balconies, over one of the gardens, stretches all the way to the Atlantic ocean beyond. Truly a nice view!
And that wraps up Sintra…a few last photos for this entry and the rest will be in the Gallery.
Water stop along the road up the hill. This is where travelers can stop and fill their water bottles from the spring.
Train station entrance for the train to Sintra from Lisbon.
