We have been in Portugal for a little over a week now and it has been a truly amazing experience. We have learned so much about the history of religion in Portugal in the readings that we do each night and the tours we have been given at the various historic sites. All of the religious sites that we have visited while on this trip have been breathtaking and full of fascinating history.
One site that we visited that has been my favorite visit so far was to a town called Sintra. We visited a site in Sintra called Quinta da Regaleira and it was an amazing experience with some of the most beautiful views that I have ever seen.
As soon as we walked into Quinta da Regaleira, this was our view:
Now if you don’t look closely, you might not see much in this picture but if you look on top of the mountain in the distance you can see a castle that is called Castelo dos Mouros. This really helps to show how intelligent people throughout history were because this castle gave them a stronghold that would be very tough for the enemies to raid and capture. It was a giant castle and really was one of the coolest things I have seen.
Another really interesting site that we saw while in this area was the Poco Iniciatico, or the Initiation Well. This can not be seen from the outside as it is guarded by large rocks that make it invisible to those walking by as a level of protection. But, once we got inside it was incredible. From the top, this photo shows what the view was:
On the floor you can see 4 large arrows which point North, South, East and West. Also, you can see the arches which are the walls of the staircase that leads you to the bottom. You can see that this is a very tall well and was built with so much detail. We took the many stairs to the bottom and when we got there, we saw that there was a very long tunnel, lit up only by lights on the floor. The only way out was back up or through this tunnel, so we walked through it.
We were told that there are many more tunnels that we couldn’t go through at the time and that there was an extensive tunnel system. I thought that this was super cool because they were built so long ago with way less advanced technology.
The last stop of the tour, was at the palace where the owners of high class would live. This palace was magnificent:
We got to go walk through the first floor and the level of detail in everything from the floors to even the large doors was so cool to see. The rooms were very large and had so much detail in them as well. When we finished inside, we stepped on the balcony and the views were surreal.
We have already seen and learned so much on this trip but there is still so much more that I look forward to seeing. I am so grateful for being able to partake in a trip like this and I am enjoying every minute of it. I hope one day I can take another trip back to Portugal to see more of this beautiful country and eat some more of the amazing food.
Written By: Connor Frawley
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