Immigrate to Portugal by purchasing property and learn about Portuguese culture: Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there stood a beautiful castle surrounded by lush forests, proudly perched on the highest peak. It raised its golden-yellow turrets and straight, ochre-red towers like a colorful, mythical bird that had flown out of the forest to pierce the sky, visible only to those blessed by the gods. However, happiness had long since departed. In this castle now lived a sorrowful queen, who wandered alone on the terrace of grief day and night, weeping endlessly for her lost love. The tears she shed gathered into a river; tonight, she will drift down the stream on a small boat, leaving this sad castle forever. She prays that at the end of the river, she will be reunited with her departed family……
Fairytales like this are but one of the many stories of Sintra, and it is only in Sintra that these fairytales are true. This town, located less than 28 kilometers from Lisbon, has always been favored by the Portuguese royal family. They built castle after castle here, spending the most magical summer days of the south in this beautiful town shrouded in morning mist and fog, until the waves of time knocked them from their supreme power to the ground, and until the blood of the king became a sacrifice for the new era.
A Fairytale Kingdom
From the Roman and Moorish occupations to the founding of Portugal, from the Age of Discovery to the decline of the Portuguese Kingdom, and from dictatorship to democracy, Sintra has witnessed every turning point in Portuguese history. Its geographical proximity to the capital, Lisbon, has also caused Sintra's history to be closely intertwined with that of Portugal. It is like an ideal world on the other side of a mirror, rising tall from the heat of power and desire, like a lotus flower rising from the mud without being stained. It stands in contrast to the treacherous political atmosphere of Lisbon, further consolidating its impression of pure and exquisite beauty. In the real world below the mountain, royalty and nobles were busy fighting for power and profit. They rode in golden carriages pulled by white steeds, galloping all the way to the dreamlike palaces of Sintra. There, they read, they painted, they walked hand in hand on the ruins of the Moorish castle, and they climbed the high towers to gaze at the silvery-white bay where mermaids appeared, smiling as they captured the clouds that drifted into their homes. Here, no one would force them into a state of distress with deficit-ridden ledgers; no one discussed distant wars or remote anxieties. They became the princes and princesses of fairytales.
Sintra is such a place; it is what turned princes and princesses into fairytales, rather than the royals who came and went that made it a capital of fairytales.
Fairytale Love
If Neuschwanstein Castle is Ludwig's tribute to German mythology and Wagner's operas, this castle with its whimsical design and colorful appearance seems to have been built for fairytales, where princes and princesses should live happily ever after. For Amélie, the last queen of Portugal, this castle was indeed filled with her happiest memories, but it also recorded every moment of her greatest pain. In the real world, the union of a prince and princess is often not for love, but the union of Amélie and Carlos I was a genuine romance. When he first saw her at a banquet, he was so nervous he did not know what to do. He wrote to his father: "She is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen."
The deeply in love couple soon married. They spent their honeymoon in Sintra, enjoying the romantic atmosphere of this fairytale town, and thereafter they often lingered at the Pena Palace. His studio was filled with oil and watercolor paintings he had created himself; had he not been king, he would likely have been an outstanding artist or oceanographer. Amélie often enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Sintra from the balcony, which is why they called that balcony the "Queen's Balcony." The bedrooms, dining room, and living room of the Pena Palace are all compact, appearing quite domestic compared to other gilded and jade-carved palaces in Europe. In this domestic environment, they enjoyed a peaceful happiness that their status did not allow, until tragedy struck again and again, eventually destroying everything.
The Queen's Last Night
Although Carlos I was not a "let them eat cake" decadent ruler of the end times, and Amélie was a good queen who was happy to devote herself to charity and education, the royal family naturally became the target of public criticism when facing national bankruptcy and internal and external troubles. The situation became increasingly chaotic, and the king's family was plagued by death threats. Finally, on February 1, 1908, Carlos I was assassinated by republican militants at the Praça do Comércio in Lisbon. The Crown Prince was also killed. Amélie lost both her husband and her eldest son at the same time, and even her second son, Manuel, was injured by gunfire. Had she not used her bouquet to attack the assailant in time, he too might have met a tragic end. Manuel ascended the throne as King of Portugal without any preparation, becoming the last emperor of Portugal. Naturally, he was unable to turn the situation around. More than two years later, the Republican Party launched a revolution and overthrew Manuel II.
In 1910, by the time she set foot on Portuguese soil again, it was 35 years later. By then, her son Manuel II had long since passed away in his prime, leaving no heirs, and the direct bloodline of the Portuguese House of Braganza had withered away. They say that before leaving, she wept alone in the palace chapel for a long time. This time, Amélie never returned. Her health deteriorated, and she eventually died alone in her residence in France, with no descendants to bring her joy and no lover by her side. But when Amélie's coffin returned to Lisbon, it was greeted with a grand welcome. The streets were packed with people who spontaneously followed the funeral procession to bid farewell to their last queen, escorting her all the way to the royal tomb to be reunited with her long-lost relatives.
The Fairytale Ending
Is this not also a kind of fairytale ending? Once spurned and exiled, she was finally pardoned and regained the respect and love of the people. Those who were once separated by life and death were finally reunited at the other end of life. Only in that world could the prince and princess live happily ever after, with no one able to tear them apart.
Just as the British poet Lord Byron, who loved Sintra, once said: "Palaces and gardens rise among rocks, waterfalls, and cliffs; monasteries stand on astonishing heights." Sintra is indeed an Eden on earth. Perhaps we do not need to feel sad for the tragedies of the "real" princes and princesses; after all, only in such an era do "ordinary" people like us have the opportunity to get close to and visit this beautiful fairytale world.
