After visiting the Quinta da Regalaira, we then took on another enormous estate, the the amazing Pena Palace, the brainstorm of the amazingly accomplished King Ferdinand II (1816-1885), who along with being king,
was an artist, poet, landscape architect, father of eleven, as well as nephew of King Leopold I of Belgium, and thus a first cousin to Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico, as well as Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert. The place is famous for its use of color and for its greenery. Not surprisingly, he had a great trophy room, dining room, and a 
place where he kept his paintings of “nymphs and satires.” Later we saw, at a distance, the ruined battlements of an eighth century Moorish castle; and a small house that for a couple years was the home of Hans Christian Andersen, who called Sintra a paradise. Hard to argue his point. On the way
back to Dolce, we had trouble finding a restaurant, but we did stumble on the Palacio of Mafra, a Baroque Franciscan monastery built in 1755, and today, perfectly situated for drive-by tourism. Some shack
