Sintra's old town: from the station to the palace: a self-guided walk
By Alleytale
Sintra's old town on foot, from the railway to the royal palace
Each stop shows a different layer of Sintra: the railway, the early 20th century town hall, a watermill turned into a sculpture museum, a fountain at a bend named for an old public bath, a pillory torn down for its stone, and the royal palace in the old town.
The stops
The line to Sintra opened on 2 April 1887, and this station was first built as the end of the line from Alcântara-Terra in Lisbon. Today it is the end of the Sintra Line from Rossio, 27.2 km away. From here it is a short walk down towards the old town.
Photo: Ivan Gonzalez — CC BY-SA 3.0 Building began in 1906 on the site of the former chapel of São Sebastião, to a design by the architect Adães Bermudes. The windows are neo-Manueline, and the tower is covered by a pyramid of patterned tiles with an armillary sphere on top. The building stands between the old quarter and the newer Estefânia district.
Photo: Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 This museum is in an early 20th century building put up as a watermill, driven by water from the Rio do Porto. It holds the work of two Portuguese sculptors, the father Artur Anjos Teixeira (1880 to 1935) and his son Pedro Anjos Teixeira (1908 to 1997), and it opened to the public in 1976. Much of the work shows people in their professions.
Photo: GualdimG — CC BY-SA 4.0 In 1848 a doctor, Bernardino Egídio da Silveira e Castro, opened a public cold-water bath here, which gave this bend in the road its name, the Volta do Duche. The fountain was built in 1920 on the initiative of a town councillor, Jerónimo Inácio Sintra, by the Coimbra sculptor José da Fonseca. It was taken apart in 1960 when the road was widened and rebuilt in 1981 not far from where it stood. Look for the horseshoe arches, the tiled front and the town's coat of arms over the central arch.
Photo: Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 This pink palace was built between about 1860 and 1870 on the site of the town's old slaughterhouse, as a summer home for the wealthy Count of Valenças, to a design by Giuseppe Luigi Cinatti. The town council bought the palace and its gardens in 1936, and the gardens opened to the public the next year. After the 25 April revolution they took their present name, Parque da Liberdade. On the front wall a large tile panel by the master Carlos Vizeu went up in 1959. By 2002 it was in poor condition and was replaced by a replica.
Photo: GualdimG — CC BY-SA 4.0 The NewsMuseum opened at midnight on 25 April 2016, in the building that had been the Toy Museum. It has three floors and more than 25 themed areas on the history of news and media, including war journalism, sports and radio.
Photo: GualdimG — CC BY-SA 4.0 King Manuel gave Sintra a new charter in 1514, and the first pillory was probably built soon after. In 1854 a blacksmith whose shop stood beside it got permission to take it down, and he destroyed it, reusing the stone in the foundations and walls of his new house. The town council commissioned the present pillory in 1940, carved by José da Fonseca. Look for the four iron arms on top, where prisoners were once chained.
Photo: LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 This is the clock tower of the old town jail. The earlier tower, probably from the early 16th century, fell in the 1755 earthquake, and the present one went up in the second half of the 18th century on the initiative of the Marquis of Pombal. Its bells carry the dates 1773, 1791 and 1882. In 1911 a post office was built on the site of the old jail, and only the tower was left standing.
Photo: Mister No — CC BY 3.0 The palace's outline is formed by two conical chimneys over the royal kitchens. King John I began a major building campaign here around 1415 and Manuel I added to it between 1497 and 1530, which is why Gothic, Manueline and Moorish styles sit side by side. The story goes that in the Magpie Room, John I answered gossip about him kissing a lady-in-waiting by having the ceiling decorated with as many magpies as there were women at court.
Photo: Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0
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