Tomar

Tomar is a charming small city with much greenery and some channels comparable maybe not to Venice, but to Brugia for sure. 

The city is famous for its monastery: Mosteiro do Cristo.

The complex is a mixture of different styles. The main ingredients: the manuelino, a kind of late Gothic overlapping with Renaissance elements.

But there is also Mannerism, strongly contrasting with organic, Manuelinian decoration.

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Setubal

A town on the river, with a strong tradition related to fishing.

Sintra

The town of Sintra, at a small distance of Lisbon, and comfortably linked by railway, has a very interesting history. There is a medieval past, mainly visible as Castelo dos Mouros, a rough fortress, there is a Renaissance royal residence, Palacio da Pena, and there are signs of a special fame of Sintra in 19th and 20th centuries.


Palacio da Pena seems rather modest for a royal residence.

One of the most interesting complexes in Sintra is a villa of a magnate with masonic inspirations, surrounded by a magnificent gardens. The most interesting part of this complex is a special masonic initiation itinerary, with artificial cave and labyrinth. All this scenario has a secret purpose and meaning.

Lisbon

Lisbon is often considered as an extremely photogenic city, even if, honestly speaking, it's also awfully chaotic, often dirty. At least it used to be, and it stayed like this in my memory. I know this city since 1993, when i went there for the first time to study Portuguese.
Since then, I crossed the city all over thousands of times, mostly without the camera. It's only at my last trip to Portugal, in 2006, that I had a digital cam at my disposal. And I didn't really manage to capture and express my vision of this city, only some glimpses of it.

Olive tree in S. Jorge Castle. On the horizon: Amoreiras shopping center.

The central part, Baixa, and the adjacent Bairro Alto, stay active late at night.