Page 76 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2023 SPECIAL CRUISE EDTION

n a clear day, standing on the bat-
tlements of the Pena Palace, you
can see all the way to Lisbon, 18
O miles off.
And, if you stretch your imagination, you
can see all the way to a foothill of the Bavar-
ian Alps — one crowned by a Cinderella castle
called Neuschwanstein.
The Pena Palace (Palacio Nacional da
Pena) sits on a craggy hill above the cute his-
toric town of Sintra. Like Neuschwanstein,
Pena Palace is one of Europe’s premier
tourist destinations. Both are UNESCO
World Heritage sites, both are homages to
the romantic ideals of Medieval times. And
both are no more Medieval than steam loco-
motives or photographic daguerreotypes.
Neuschwanstein—often cited as the model
for the castle at Disneyland — was the
fevered brainchild of Ludwig, the “Mad King”
of Bavaria. Construction of this ode to
mythology and imagination began in 1870
(upon older ruins) and was still unfinished
when Ludwig died in 1886.
Pena Palace was also the brainchild of
German royalty. This one by Ferdinand, a
prince of Saxe-Coburg, who married Portu-
gal’s Queen Maria II in 1836. Ferdinand be-
came enamored with the ruins of a
monastery atop Sintra’s hill. He starting
restoring the place, then began to add on to
the restoration, and then he went nuts—ar-
chitecturally speaking. He tacked on lookout
towers, clock towers, tunnels, parapets,
royal rooms, and drawbridges.

76 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SPRING 2023