Monday 19 December 2011

Portugal Day 5

Oops forgot to publish our last day in Portugal:) The tiles in this castle were so amazing and the decor is so different from anything I have seen in England that I wanted to share it with you!

Our last trip in Portugal was to visit the town of Sintra which is located about 45 minutes by train from Lisbon. It was a beautiful quaint village with several castles. We only had time to visit the National Palace and were able to see the amazing tile work inside.


When we first arrived to town we took a horse and carriage ride around the town.












We saw some teenagers performing songs and dancing on the street.














Amazing building sites




















National Palace












The main hall


















King's bedroom














dining room



















another room in the palace











This room had no tile work but tapestries which is more common to see in the UK

















Another bedroom













My picture doesn't do this room justice. It was breathtaking to enter into this room. Gold painted ceiling contrasting with the traditional blue and white Portuguese tile work on the walls.















All the wall were covered with hunting scenes and the were quite detailed.














Tile work even went around the corners of the walls.












Another impressive and different site was the kitchen and the layout. There was a central spit but it was in the middle of the kitchen and directly above it was a massive chimney flume (see next picture)

I couldn't help but think being a kitchen helper would have been very dangerous, and since I am known for being clumsy, I wouldn't have made it very long if I had to work around a large fire in the middle of my kitchen floor !








Chimney flume









I am linking this post to the Home school Field trip hop!








6 comments:

  1. What an amazing "field trip" you had!! That is like a lifetime of field trips all rolled in to one.

    Thanks for your comment on our horse post- we don't own the horse. Our lessons are just very down home. Lots of hands on, nothing fancy.

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  2. Amazing. Your kids are going to remember their years living overseas for the rest of their lives. You have made a wonderful couple of years fantastic. I am in awe of you!
    P.S. I would have a hard time with my cooking fire in the center of my floor, too. And they probably wore long skirts. Yikes!

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  3. I have to take some time off so I can catch up on all your adventures, Anna-Marie. You and your family have been busy. =)

    You won't get it before Christmas, but be on the lookout for a package in the mail. (It's about time, right.)

    Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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  4. I loved the pictures and thoughts on this trip. I really like the blue room. I can't imagine having the opportunity to go there myself so I have enjoyed following your trip there.
    Blessings to you for a fun post.

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  5. Just amazing! Did the Moors invade Portugal also? Some of the work seems Moorish and I remember learning that in Spain (I think it was Spain anyway) some places were an incredible mixture of European and Moorish work. The Europeans would conquer and build over the Moorish work, then the Moors would reconquer and build over the European work, then the Europeans would conquer again, and so on. A lot of the Portuguese architecture looks like it could be an example of this Moorish/European combination to me. That "hallway" would make an awesome playroom/homeschool room!

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  6. Oh my goodness! Can I have a kitchen that size?!

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