Portugal

Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal

Quinta da Regaleira is a fairytale house in a fairytale landscape and well worth a visit.

The house and the garden is one of the most enigmatic monuments of the cultural landscape of Sintra. The present-day form was built between 1898 and 1912 under the supervision of Carvalho Monteiro. The style is neo-manuelin and the decorative theme involved some of Portugal’s best artists: Antonio Goncalves, Joao Machado, Jose da Fonseca, Costa Motta and Rodrigo de Castro, as sculptors in stone and Julio da Fonseca, in wood.

The garden, as an image of the Cosmos, is revealed through a succession of magic and mysterious places. You will find abundant references to the world of mythology, to Olympus, Virgil, Dante, Milton and Camoes, and to the mission of the Templars as continued by the Order of Christ, to great mystics and miraculous magicians, and to the enigmas of the alchemical Ars Magna.

The house is a magic castle with fairytale carvings of all sorts. Plan to spend at least three hours exploring the place.

Good luck.

Video: Lisbon (Portugal) – the city of panoramic views and my amazing friends

Lisbon to me was a maze of gorgeous panoramic views from the hillsides overlooking Rio Tejo and the city itself. Gothic cathedrals, majestic monasteries and interesting museums are all part of the colourful cityscape, but the most amazing part is just wondering around the narrow lanes of Lisbon’s lovely backstreets.

Tiny coffee and cake shops are found everywhere and in Bairro Alto you can enjoy evenings with fado – the traditional Portuguese melancholic singing. You will also find dozens of restaurants and bars line the narrow streets, with jazz, reggae and electronic and any day of the week you can party until dawn. Yet, while history is very much alive in centuries-old Lisbon, its spirit is undeniably youthful.

The Lisbon experience encompasses so many things, from enjoying a fresh pastry and bica (espresso) on a petite leafy plaza to window-shopping in elegant Chiado. It’s mingling with Lisboêtas at a neighbourhood festival or watching the sunset from the old Moorish castle.

Just outside Lisbon, there’s more to explore: the magical setting of Sintra, glorious beaches and traditional fishing villages.

I absolutely adored Lisbon – but the city would not have been half the glory or fun without my darling friends there.

Thanks a million Francisco for spending a whole week with me and showing me every single bit of Lisbon…all the beautiful, peculiar and hidden places. You are the best tour guide ever.

And thanks a million Joao for showing me what supreme hospitality is and sharing your home with me for a whole week. It was wonderful!

Qualquer momento e onde quer que eu vivo – a minha casa é sua casa.

Com amor Tina

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust: Stop moaning and start driving!

It has now been four days since all flight traffic over the northern Europe was cancelled due to the volcanic ashes from the explosion on Iceland. The airspace is still closed over: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, UK. It is partly closed over: Italy (northern airspace closed until Monday) and the flights are operating in: Greece, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Spain.

In the meantime the news broadcasts hundreds of articles and TV programs about people being stuck who are going to- or leaving from cities in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

Obviously a lot of the stories focus on sensation – like four French business men who were stuck somewhere in Denmark and "had to" hire a taxi to get home to Paris for 15.000 crowns (2700 USD). But really my question is: What happened to people’s logic? Did it disappear with the availability of cheap flight tickets?

Before the days when we were all able to pollute the atmosphere with CO2 (from flights) on a regular basis, we used to travel on buses and trains: OVERLAND TRAVEL. Doesn’t anyone remember that?

There are still regular buses and trains connecting all the capital cities in Europe!!! I understand that you can be "stuck" if you are travelling to or from Asia and South America. But to say that people, who are "merely" travelling from Paris to Copenhagen, are "stuck" is ridiculous.

Google "bus Europe" or "train Europe" and you will get thousands of entries. I went to the following website: http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml This website combines all train travel all over Europe – from the very South of Barcelona to the north of Norway.

I decided to figure out how long it takes to go from Copenhagen to Paris. Well I can leave tomorrow morning at 07.45 from Copenhagen and will get to Paris tomorrow evening at 20:53. The trip takes 13 hours and 8 minutes. That’s 10 hours more than flying. But honestly – we are NOT "stuck" in Europe. It’s such a small area that being stuck is for the most part more a question about comfort.

Thomas and I travelled for 9 months in South America. We did all our travel overland. This often meant 20 hour bus journeys and as you can imagine travelling from Guatemala to Bariloche in Argentina overland takes many hundreds of hours in buses. I never thought about flying.

I do sympathise with people who have engagements to attend to etc. But why not use this opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint and get back down to the ground – take the train or the bus in Europe 🙂