Kazakhstan Kraigs: Castles

During our trip to Portugal we had the opportunity to
visit four different castles (and a palace). Our first
castle was in Santa Maria de Feira and was absolutely breathtaking. At the bottom of the hill in which you need to drive up is an old cathedral, with established trees and a lush estate. Winding up the path I was not sure what to expect from a castle as dated as this one, (the castle began as a fort in the middle of the 9th century (868), and then later was established into a castle in the 11th century--but there is even evidence of a Roman presence before that). This castle also helped me gain a greater understanding of castle strategy. As is noted the castle sits on top a rugged terrain providing a natural fortification against invaders. As you enter the fortification and up though the outer walls into the courtyard, you are then exposed to the Keep of the castle. The Keep is the most secure area of a castle and would have been the most protected area as this is where the royalty would have lived. The courtyard was green, and surprisingly spacious, and you could almost feel the energy of what once was there.

This castle was remarkably advanced in its final stages of residency as it had two internal wells that collected water from the rain (through an elaborate series of stone aqueducts of sorts into the dungeon areas where the large stone wells were kept--these would have come in handy during a siege). After going thorough the main halls of the castle and up to the towers we noticed old rings that would have been used for chains inside the towers. I was surprised (after novels and movies my idea was that prisoners were kept in the dudgeon, but I was wrong). According to research prisoners were kept in the towers which were usually the most guarded as well as difficult for outsiders to reach.

Climbing up and down the walls we could see the crosses cut out for archers to hide in, as well as additional circles cut out for cannons. It felt like stepping into a scene of a fairy tail, with all the characters gone but ourselves.

Our next castle was after some driving (and visits) into the area of Portugal known as the Alentejo, the city of Beja. Beja was known somewhat as the "Wild, Wild, East" of Portugal and played a major historical role. Years ago this agricultural region was the wealth of Portugal (before its colonies) and was where one of the original kings who unified the country fought against the Moors. It was at this castle that we realized other people were touring Portugal as well (much to our surprise, as we had the first castle all to ourselves), but still enjoyed exploring this castle. Much of the main wall has actually been integrated into the city, so as you drive around the immediate area of the castle you can identify walls and arches that were original to the castle. FANTASTIC. This castle also has a single large tower which purpose was to look over the surrounding land again checking for invaders (and I am sure some gloating over possessions).

Our next castle and palace were located in Sintra (a town about a half hour northwest of Lisbon). Sintra is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. After winding our way up the mountain we reached the parking areas and hiked up to the Pena National Palace. This palace is surround by lush gardens with a nice walk to the top of the mountain (the children ran up much to the amusement of the older tourists). Pena is effaced in bright, wonderfully gaudy colors (I really loved it), with a touch of Moorish influence in the architecture; but what really made it spectacular was the breathtaking view of the valley below. One of the unique views of Pena is that of a Moorish castle on the next hilltop! Noah promptly fell asleep, (I would too after running up a mountain), so I carried him through the tour of the inside.

We decided after lunch to hike over to the Moorish castle on the next hilltop, it was quite the trek. All up the mountain we walked along the walls of the outer fortifications of the castle, passing several excavation sites (dating back to the 12th century) and dense vegetation. This used to be an ENORMOUS castle and was actually given over peacefully to the Christian king in 1013 in order to gain allegiance. After the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 renovations were made to assist the stability of the castle.

Our final castle was the Castle of Sao Jorge in Lisbon. This castle is also situated on a hilltop (a reoccurring theme) and overlooks the magnificent view of red-roofed Lisbon. This hilltop is known to have had inhabitants dating back to 6 BC that include civilizations such as indigenous Celts, Greeks, Romans, and Moors just to name a few. While the main courtyard of this area was large and the view spectacular, what set this castle apart for me was moving deep into the fortification. After crossing the bridge into the Keep I heard music. It was beautiful and haunting. A classical guitar strumming the cords of Lisbon. We found Pedro Godinho sitting against a wall (selling CD's which of course we purchased, and it became our theme music the remainder of the trip) seemingly blind to the tourists around him.