Cinema allows us to travel to incredible places. They are often so beautiful that we don't even believe them. But in many films they exist: nature serves as a guide for film professionals to draw inspiration or even to shoot their works in their own natural settings.
AND Portugal There are beautiful places that really feel like we are watching a film. It was difficult to choose, but below I list FIVE of the places that I think are cinema places here in Portugal and that you have to visit.
1. Azenhas do Mar
Azenhas do Mar is a spectacular village on the coast of the municipality of Sintra, parish of Colares. The fishing village is above the mountains and below, at the end of the wall, there is a natural pool and a small beach. But there is more, as in addition to the picturesque natural landscape, Azenhas do Mar has many interesting buildings, particularly in the Soft Portuguese Style, with tiles on the facades, such as the school and the teacher's residence. It's worth a visit and we at Portugal Afora We take you to see this wonder that looks like a movie set, where just over 800 people currently live.
2. Pena Palace
The Pena Palace is so grand that we could see it from some hill in Lisbon. It is built on a steep rock, which is the second highest point in the Serra de Sintra (above the palace you can only find Cruz Alta, at 528 meters above sea level). The Palace is located in the eastern part of Parque da Pena, which you need to walk through to reach the steep ramp that Baron de Eschwege built to access the castellated building. Colorful, the Pena Palace is surrounded by a huge garden of more than 2 hectares. It is worth visiting and seeing how people lived centuries ago.
3. Monsanto
A tourist icon in the central region of Portugal, the beautiful Historical Village of Monsanto is a peculiar experience for anyone who visits it. With houses built on top of the mountains and using the stones of the mountain itself as walls or roofs, the village is almost on the border with Spain. It is so old that its construction is attributed to the Templars. It really feels like we are a character in a Middle Ages film. But you need to be physically prepared, as the climbs are steep.
4. Monsaraz
The town of Monsaraz, still today surrounded by its medieval walls, was built on a rocky cliff overlooking a vast region that includes the Guadiana valley and the Alqueva reservoir, in Alentejo, a privileged situation conducive to a very remote human presence, although not there is certainty about a Castro or even Roman occupation. The only certainty is that the village was occupied by Muslims. The beauty is so much, with its little white houses, overlooking Spain or the vast Alentejo, that it seems like we are in a fairytale film.
5. Quinta da Regaleira
Quinta da Regaleira is a pleasant surprise and perhaps the most surprising monument in the Serra de Sintra. Located at the end of the historic center of Vila de Sintra, it was built between 1904 and 1910, at the end of the monarchy. The romantic domains that once belonged to the Viscountess of Regaleira were acquired and expanded by Dr. António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro (1848-1920) to establish his favorite place in the world. Such was his creativity that Regaleira has one of the best-known gardens in Europe, with secret passages, an inverted tower and many, many surprises.
