| From
escarpments to baroque Palaces, between imposing crags and luxurious greenery,
Sintra-Cascais, on the Costa de Lisboa, concentrates and symbolizes the
enchantment of a heritage that must be preserved.
Text
provided by the Portuguese Tourist Office (with minimal corrections)
Situated
close to the capital, the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park houses the tourist
centres of Cascais and Sintra, the town of Colares, the Raso and Roca Capes,
the ‘Mouth of Hell’ and the Sintra Mountain. As well as a string
of holiday beaches from Foz do Falcao to Forte da Cidadela. From the northern
edge of the Park to the Roca Cape there are beaches below the cliffs, such
as the Praia das Macas or Azenhas do Mar.
At
the most westerly point of the continent of Europe, ‘where the land ends
and the sea begins’ the granite prow of the Roca Cape rises. To the south,
around the Guia Lighthouse and the Mouth of Hell, is an expanse of sands
and dunes, such as the Consolidated Dune of Crismina in Oitavos, considered
to be the largest in Europe.
From
the sea to the mountain, the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park is full of amazing
contrasts. The Sintra Mountain, which rises to an altitude of 529m
at Cruz Alta, houses around it a series of climatic phenomena that create
exceptional natural conditions. Nature’s exuberance made it a place
of cult worship for the primitive Iberian people, who called it the Mountain
of the Moon. It later became the area of summer residence for the nobility
of Lisbon, who built palaces of rare beauty there.
The
microclimate of the Sintra Mountain also served to create exotic gardens,
with the Monserrate park displaying the greatest concentration of species
of vegetation introduced. The strength of the thuja firs and the enormous
sequoias and arucarias contrast with the rustic modesty of the indigenous
species |
