Late afternoon at Praia do Campismo, Tróia Pensinsular. Soft white sand, pine trees, warm ocean and magnificent views to the Serra da Arrábida
O Dia de São Valentim
It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow. In Portuguese, the day is called O Dia de São Valentim or O Dia dos Namorados (The Day of Lovers). There are quite literally thousands of romantic sights and scenes in Portugal, but we had to pick just one location that we felt truly encapsulates an enchanting 2016 Valentine’s Day visit.
13 February 2016
Such is the extraordinary genius for minutiae found in the eccentric, complex and sumptuous architectural ornamentation, the quinta looks like the setting for an opera of epic proportions.
UNESCO World Heritage site Quinta da Regaleira – situated in the town of Sintra, thirty kilometres northwest of Lisboa – is a perfect day out for lovers; the famous nearby Palácio da Pena steals all the limelight, while the lesser-known quinta, in all its glorious 4-hectares, lies on the edge of town, shrouded in forest.
Every step within the wildly-romantic fantasy that is Quinta da Regaleira conceals, then reveals, a new surprise around the next corner, in a seemingly-impossible curiosity of styles and forms: the minutiae of a stone lion; the Manueline arches with exquisitely-detailed carvings of cherubs, acorns, fish, flowers, swans, Saints holding infants, fishermens’ ropes, hunting scenes; the jugs wreathed in stone grapes and mounted with the head of a long-horned ram; the vermillion-coloured mosaics; the stone sea-shell serving as a drinking fountain; the Gothic pinnacles watched over by gargoyles; the elegant stone dogs standing in wait; and the twelve statues of Greek and Roman Gods at the Patamar dos Deuses.
Such is the extraordinary genius for minutiae found in the eccentric, complex and sumptuous architectural ornamentation, the Quinta da Regaleira looks like the setting for an opera of epic proportions.
The architectural styles here are Gothic, Manueline, Egyptian, Moorish and Renaissance.
It is believed that each section of the estate incorporates symbolic carvings related to alchemy, Masonry, the Knights Templar, and the Rosicrucians (founded on esoteric truths of the ancient past, to provide insight into nature, the physical universe and the spiritual realm). In places, the weathered stone is black. Elsewhere it is as grey as smoke. In other places, it is smooth, white marble.
Quinta da Regaleira has a five-floor, hilltop palace (Palácio dos Milhões), a crypt, a church adorned with depictions of the Portuguese Discoveries and surrounded by pentagrams (Capela da Santíssima Trindade), caves, gargoyles and terraces, fountains, grottoes, turrets, lakes and stepping stones, tiles, stained glass windows, frescoes, lavish stuccoes and the Initiation Well.
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The moss-choked, 27-metre-deep Poço do Iniciático (Initiation Well) has an arched, spiral staircase reaching nine levels, and resembles an inverted stone tower, set into the earth rather than climbing above it. This well never served as a water source, but instead was used for ceremonial purposes, including Tarot initiation rites.
Each terrace is separated by a flight of 15 steps, citing references to the Divine Comedy by Dante and the nine circles of Hell, the nine sections of Purgatory and the nine skies which constitute Paradise.
The land that is today the quinta belonged to the Viscountess of Regaleira, a family of wealthy merchants from Porto, and was sold in 1892 to Dr António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro for 25,000 réis. Monteiro was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil in 1848 and became a mining magnate. He was a wealthy nobleman, an avid literary man who collected the works of Camões and inherited a large fortune in the trade of coffee and precious stones. He is known for commissioning the production of the most complex timepiece in the world: the Leroy 01. The clock is encased in a 71mm gold box with signs of the zodiac, and contains 975 pieces and 24 different functions.
Monteiro was eager to build a bewildering place where he could collect symbols that reflected his interests and ideologies. He commissioned Italian opera set designer and architect, Luigi Manini (1848-1936) to create a place of magic and mystery, a fantasy garden that would allude to an image of the Cosmos. Construction commenced in 1904 and was completed by 1910.
Good advice for a weekend visit is to arrive exactly at the hour of opening. On Sundays, Quinta da Regaleira opens at 10am. And take a small torch for the caves and crypts!