A Buddha gathering in Bombarral
September 27, 2008 at 10:22 pm | In Portugal, Travel | 1 CommentTags: berardo, bombarral, buda, buddha, buddhism, budismo, dalai, dalai lama, garden of peace, jardim da paz, joe, joe berardo, lama, loridos, paz, peace, portugal, quinta dos loridos
His holiness, the Dalai Lama, was supposed to inaugurate the first Oriental garden (and one of the biggest ones in the world) in Portugal, Bombarral (Quinta dos Loridos), but unfortunately he didn’t. (don’t know why – lost his number).
Joe Berardo (a portuguese millionaire. ps – joe is not a portuguese name…he’s just stupid) bought all the statues that came from several countries in Asia just to built what he calls ‘The Garden of Peace’ for everyone to enjoy freely.
Well, at least that…
The garden is indeed amazing and the statues overwhelm you with their height. They are still finishing it but it already takes you around one hour to see it all.
A minor detail: it’s amazing the ammount of rubbish and statues already broken that you can find in a place called ‘The Garden of Peace’ that even didn’t open yet!!! Shame…
Totaly worth it guys!!
Regaleira
September 27, 2008 at 9:58 pm | In Portugal, Travel | 1 CommentTags: lisbon, maçonaria, masonry, portugal, quinta, quinta da regaleira, regaleira, sintra
I’ve been there and done that.
Well, i did all of that now that I put my Indiana Jones hat on and lit a torch to enter the caves of Regaleira. I tried several times before with my phone’s light but it didn’t quite work. This time it did, but I got way too scared when I had to decide right or left at the end of the cave…1000 dollars answer? None of those, GO BACK! And so we did, me and Mariana 
There’s not much to say about this place in Sintra (outskirts of Lisbon) ’cause I feel like I’ve visited it a 1000 times. Yes, there’s a lot to know about it but it’s just too complicated. Ok, I’ll try a sumary: masonry, occult, masonry.
Done! 
Anywho, go there if you ever have the chance but PLEASE don’t ignore its history and don’t think of it as just another monument because it’s not just another one. It’s THE monument.
Pics below
Pictures: top to bottom – Palace, caves, initiation well, entrance to the caves (no, it’s not grass – water 
)
Pena Palace (Sintra.part II)
September 1, 2008 at 12:40 am | In Portugal, Travel | Leave a CommentTags: castelo, castle, lisboa, palace, palacio, pena, portugal, sintra
It’s difficult to show your own country to a foreigner. Among the thousands of cool places you think you know in your hometown you have to chose just 2 or 3 to show to your friend that came from England. Last week was downtown Lisbon, today it was Sintra, of course.
Of course because Sintra is especial. Especial for everybody, especial for those who like to eat, for those who like monuments, for nature and greenpeace freaks, for people interested in witchcraft (yes, Sintra is Also associated with that), for those who like tea or simply for those who just want to take a walk.
During summer time, or not, it’s always a pleasent place where you easily forget you’re just 20min away from the capital.
Anywho, nothing like experiecing it, so please, visit it! (Although I’m writing a different post for every monument in Sintra, (oh, by the way, this one is about the Pena Palace) they are all worth it. Visit them all!!)
Pena, or feather, Palace, as you wish, is the biggest palace in Sintra and was the first romantic Palace in Europe. The palace was built in 1836 by D. Fernando Coburgo-Gota (later king of Portugal), married to Queen Maria II.
As you can see by the pictures, its architecture is a true delight a mix of: 1) neo-gothic, 2) neo-manueline, 3) islamic and 4) neo-renaissance. Oh, and it stands on rocks 
Cool huh?
2nd picture – oui, it’s a fancy window See more
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