Winter Morning Clouds Below our Garden

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Abandoned houses

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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...
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Markets - great fun and surprising finds

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The Market of São Pedro There are several open-air markets around Sintra that are year-round fun for tourists and locals alike. In the times of closed in shopping centers, markets are great fun, full of exciting sounds and smells that invite us to browse and shop - many times for items we only could find this way. The larger markets, such as São Pedro and Monte Abraão, also have food stalls for a nice, warm lunch, and snack counters with freshly baked traditional pastries. The São Pedro Market in São Pedro de Sintra is held on 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month.  This is a very traditional market with everything you can imagine: food, like freshly baked bread, cheeses, and fruits and veggies; baby animals from birds to puppies; trees and plants; clothes and shoes, even men's suits; baskets, toys, and electronic gadgets, rugs, ... you name it, and most probably you can find it here.  The vendors that sell 'things' at this market are often selling stock with slight defe...
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Chalet Biester - the film set for Johnny Depp's 'Ninth Gate'

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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...
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