Wonderful Autumn Day in Sintra!

-
This has truly been a wonderful day in Sintra. The mountain and the Historical Center are a pool of colors: the traditional green has gotten its autumn foliage of yellow and the colorful buildings look so pretty in the midst of this! Our Bed and Breakfast is bathing in the sun, it is nearly 20 degrees and there is hardly any wind. I had my afternoon coffee on the sofa outside.

This is a wonderful time to visit Sintra, taking advantage of our winter specials with local businesses. It is magical to ride in a horse-drawn carriage through all these colors, sipping hot chocolate. With a significant discount that our Guest House visitors have, it is almost a must!

Today our guests commented that they really appreciated the complimentary port wine when they entered yesterday, it was a chilly night and it warmed them up nicely. I am glad, as we want to make sure that our guests have a memorable stay.

You can check out the details of our specials on our site www.casadovalle.com

Comments

pambospalas said…
Wow! I just had a look at the gallery in your site, Sintra looks amazing!! What impresses me the most is the view you have from the house, I´d love to wake up to that!
08 November
The Art of Joy said…
We had a lovely stay at Casa Do Valle. Enjoyed the autumn sun and views, the comfortable beds and room, the port and the surroundings. We love hiking and if you do, we suggest to go to the Tourist Info of Sintra where they have leaflets with at least 8 different trails. We suggest a drive along the West Coast. And if you would like to visit Lisboa you can take the train which leaves every 15 minutes form Sintra station.
14 November
horizonsuniv said…
I have been many times to Casa do Valle and it is simply "the best place" where to be. The location is startling, with a superb view of hills, the castle, in a calm setting, yet near all the sites I wanted to visit. I love the comfort of the room and the combination of the Portuguese and Scandinavian touch offered by the bicultural couple running the place. I felt at home. I love the little internet house, the swimming pool and the nice corners in the garden to take a rest between visits. And I love all the details and the friendliness.I will definitely come back, and this time I will come in the winter! I bet it's very cozy and I can enjoy the nice weather of Portugal then. Roberta
17 November
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned houses

-
Image
When you walk around Sintra and Lisbon you cannot but notice and wonder about some beautiful old buildings that look like they are abandoned and/or falling apart. It saddens many to see the potential of these houses going to waste just sitting there with broken or boarded up windows, roof half falling and the garden overgrown. Right across the street from us there is one such building and a few times a week I tell people the story of it. As the high fencing and basketball hoop lets you guess, it was 'Escola Academica' still about 20 years ago when we were building and moved here; a small private school. Once a beautiful building, full of life, the school mistress retired, the school lost its license, and for awhile after the death of the old school mistress, a family lived there with no rights to rental. When they were successfully evicted, we thought the house would be soon sold and were looking forward to new neighbors - with no luck until today. Many people wanted to
Read more

Chalet Biester - the film set for Johnny Depp's 'Ninth Gate'

-
Image
Just a bit above the village, in our view, there is a mansion called Chalet Biester.  Its black roof with turquoise trimming causes a lot of questions and awakes the curiosity of many Sintra visitors.  No, it cannot be visited; yes, it is a private house.  No, I don't know who lives there now; yes, it is where the Roman Polanski  thriller ' The Ninth Gate' was filmed, starring Johnny Depp.  There and a bit of everywhere in Sintra. The Chalet Biester as seen from our pool, circled in red Chalet Biester photographed from the Casa da Vista deck Ernesto Biester, a Portuguese journalist and playwright of German origin, famous in his time,  ordered this mansion to be built in around 1880 from the architect José Luis Monteiro.  Its interior was conceived by the famous Italian that worked on Quinta da Regaleira, also in Sintra, and the sceneries of La Scala Opera in Milano, and theater São Carlos in Lisbon: Luigi Manini - and the sculpture Leandro Braga.  Biest
Read more

Oh, the wonderful Pastries and Bread!

-
Image
As I have mentioned before, I frequently walk in the mornings with my dog; up and down the hills, into the forest and mountain roads. Recently there has been an extra burden on my walks. It is lent, the 40 days between Carnival and Easter. Tradition says you give up something for those 40 days that is like an addiction. Some people give up coffee, others chocolate or cigarettes. I decided to give up bread and pastries made with white wheat flour. And this is the reason that climbing up the 400 meters to town is now doubly difficult: the bakeries and pastry shops open their doors even before Pandora and I take off from home, so we walk up to town with the irresistible scent of freshly baked goodies lingering over the town center, calling my name - which I am patiently (more and less) ignoring. Sintra is famous for its pastries. The pastries of Piriquita, travesseiros , are famous all over Portugal, and people cue up to buy them to take home by boxes. These long, sugar coded
Read more