Portugal in Parts: Fairy Tale Castles, Brave Knights & Hogwarts

I planned our trip across Portugal with certain objectives in mind. First, there’s Lisbon and as I’ve already explained in my previous blog, any city that survived the hardships that she did and still comes out swinging, is worth a visit in my book. Then there’s Sintra, home to my bucket list house, then Tomar that boasts with some pretty impressive history with the Knight’s Templar, then on to Coimbra to see the oldest university in Portugal, as well as the rumored inspiration for the Hogwarts uniforms. Then there’s Porto for some, well…port. Followed by stunning nature in Serra de Estrela, and finally to Algarve for some sun and surf.  Culture, food, nature, history, and intrigue – the key ingredients for any winning holiday recipe.

Sintra - Castles Galore!

My bucket list is quite extensive. I have a large appetite when it comes to seeing beautiful places and experiencing interesting cultures. I have also been very blessed to have checked quite a few things on my list. One such an experience was right in Sintra, a playground for fairy tale lovers but also over-crowded with tourists, only 30 minutes outside of Lisbon. Now, if you’ve ever seen the film, The Haunting with Catherine Zeta-Jones, you were obviously just as obsessed with the haunted house in the film, as I was. It was just superbly spooky and gorgeous - a champion combination in my opinion. 

Another estate that I instantly fell in love with and that was just as enchanting as the Harlaxton Manor that was in used in The Haunting, is Portugal’s bewilderingly gorgeous Quinta da Regaleira. It’s a giant of an estate nestled in a fantasy garden filled exciting beauties to discover around every corner.

A man with great imagination, Carvalho Monteiro, bought the land in 1892 and wanted to build a spectacular and mysterious estate riddled with symbols that reflected his interests and ideologies. All across the grounds are references to topics like alchemy, Masonry, and the Knights Templar. It took the architect, an Italian opera-set designer (a very suiting career background in my mind), six years to build this fantastic villa.

Unfortunately, this is no haunted manor and the history isn’t colorful enough to report much, but the impressive building and extravagant gardens were enough to make me giddy and feel like a little girl lost in fantasies of princesses and magical castles. There’s an air of secrecy and enchantment among the beautiful towers and arches. I think it's great that places like Quinta da Regaleira still exist to transport our pragmatic minds and bleak imaginations from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Quinta da Regaleira

Quinta da Regaleira

Staircase at Quinta da Regaleira

chapel at Quinta da Regaleira

Pena Palace. One of Sintra's many castles. 

Tomar – Knights Templar

I’ve always been drawn to the idea of cavalier knights and faraway lands. Imagine my excitement when I read that Portugal’s very own Tomar has a gorgeous building with a rich history with these religious crusadors. Right in the heart of the town lies the Convent of Christ, a former Roman Catholic convent from the 12th-century founded Templar Knights.

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the Knights Templar, but you just can’t put your finger on who they were exactly and what significance they had. No problem! I’m here to save the day (pun intended) and refresh your memory.

These were devout Christian men who fought to safeguard their dominion as well as protect pilgrims on their voyages to the Holy Land. The Holy Land today basically comprises of places in the Middle East that are mentioned in the Old and New Testaments like Israel, Palestine, Western Jordan, The Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and Southern Syria. It’s essentially placed at the junction of Africa, Asia, and Europe, creating a passage between East and West. You can imagine how hot this property was.

The period where these white-clad men were prominent is known as the Crusades. Ah, a little light is flickering in your head. You’ve heard of this. Simply put, the Crusades was a time during the Middle Ages where Christians and Muslims were at war. The Christians used several religious knightly military orders, including the Knights Templar, who secured control of the Holy Land from Muslims (even though it was holy to the Muslims as well) and created a safeguard for pilgrims traveling to and from the region. Since the first Crusade in 1095, there were a total of nine Crusades over 200 years.

The Convent of Christ is, like I mentioned, a convent that was founded by militant Christians. During the Crusades, Portugal was under control of the Moors. Unlucky for them, Portugal was recognized as a Crusade land and off the knights went to Portugal to seize control from the Muslims. They then founded the Convent of Christ and used it a fortress during their battles in that region.

When the pope dissolved the order because of heresy in the 14th century, the then king of Portugal, king Dinis, wanted to keep the Knights Templar and their assets under a new Portuguese military order, known as the Order of Christ. Knights who survived the purge as well as assets, and partly also membership of the former Knights Templar were transferred to the Order of Christ. This new order  went on to offer great support during Portugal’s golden era known as the Age of Exploration where great Portuguese explorer’s roamed the seas with stars in their eyes and adventure in their hearts.

Coimbra – Cloaks, Cooks, and Crooning

I am still at sorts with this town. Many people loved Coimbra while I was completely and utterly bored with it. The buildings were pale and the sights were stale. Perhaps it is because Coimbra is so old that most of the city’s infrastructure faded with time. It could also be that I was there during the holiday season and most students (the breath that keeps the city alive) were off on the summer break. Either way, I couldn't be less interested in this town. It does, however, have one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world, and that’s the only reason why I went in the first place.

It was only after I arrived that I heard of the rumor for the reason why students at Hogwarts wear long black cloaks. The rumor tells of J.K. Rowling's visit to Coimbra and how she was inspired by the uniforms the students from Coimbra university wore that she decided to put Harry Potter in one as well. But that’s about the most interesting thing I came across during my visit.

With every old town, comes a curious tale. And I have another one for you. Long before Romeo and Juliet’s love were eternalized by Shakespeare, the Portuguese had their own romantic tragedy within a royal family.

All right, you softies, sit back and let me tell you the tale of Pedro and his undying (and somewhat disturbing) love for Inês. 

Being the heir to the throne, Pedro didn’t really have much say in his love life. He was doomed to an organized marriage to Princess Constanza of Spain. Sometime during the marriage, he met one of his bride’s staff and fell madly in love with her. Enter Inês. Pedro’s heart beat lively for the young Spanish maiden and once Constanza died he went to live with his mistress in Coimbra. Obviously, the king disapproved of his son’s scandalous actions and put his foot down by ending the affair through murder. When the king himself then died, Pedro became king and took revenge to a whole new level. He personally tore the hit men’s hearts from their chests with his bare hands, similar to the human sacrifice ceremony in Temple of Doom. After inspiring Steven Spielberg to add that scene in Indiana Jones, King Pedro then went on to marry his dead lover. You heard right. He married Inês’ corpse.  Pedro then had everyone question his sanity when he forced them to acknowledge her as queen by kneeling before her corpse slouched on the throne and kissing her decayed royal hand. They all did this of course, avoiding ghastly holes in their chests was pretty good incentive. I guess the moral of this story is love indeed makes you do crazy things.

 

Coimbra University

There was one good thing Coimbra offered, other than that morbid story, and that was an endearing memory I will always carry with me: my first introduction to Fado. Fado is a music genre hugely popular in Portugal that will, simply put, touch your soul. There’s a Portuguese word that expresses the heart of fado beautifully: saudade, which means "longing”. The singer is so wildly overcome with longing for love, redemption, or a glass a water - it doesn’t matter, that his yearning fills the air and eventually also your brain. You are then so susceptible to the ballad that all you can do is sit there like an incapacitated idiot and lose yourself in the song. The words, unfamiliar unless you speak Portuguese, cut through your nerves of steel and turn you into a whimpering pile of Jell-O, lapping up the melodic pining.

I was so bewitched by the singer’s emotions that I, too, lost myself in the music and am now a proud owner of my very own Fado CD.

Fado performers

Next up we’ll go drown our Fado-induced sorrows in port and spy a supernatural-looking hole that doesn’t seem to quite fit the surroundings and yet it looks so cool you want one in your backyard.