Monday, August 18, 2014

Moorish Castle, Sintra, Portugal (August 15, 2014)

The Moorish castle was a military fort built around the 10th century by the Muslims who occupied the Iberian Peninsula at that time. It was strategically located on this hill to act as a control tower to defend the local territory and maritime access to Lisbon.

I took a different route to climb up the hills to the Moorish Castle this morning. The shaded trails of mostly stone-steps terrain were a nice change from the asphalt roads as I didn't have to deal with the cars and buses going up hill. The climb up to the castle rewarded me with a fantastic 360-degree view of Sintra hills and the coast ~ definitely the best attraction of the site for me.

Above: The Cistern in the Castle ~ the two vents ensured that the water stayed drinkable; still, I wouldn't drink the water as it smelled weird inside the Cistern; it also felt creepy so I didn't stay very long inside




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