Parque da Pena Romanticist Forest & Gardens
Parque da Pena is a 200-hectare romanticist wonderland crowning the Sintra Mountains, conceived by King Ferdinand II in the 1840s and containing thousands of exotic plant species from around the globe.
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From the source
Pena Palace and its surrounding park form an ensemble on the Sintra hills. The palace is associated with Fernando II and Portuguese Romanticism. Its coloured façades rise above a wooded park crossed by winding paths.
Editorial reading
Created simultaneously with the fairy-tale Romanticist palace by King Ferdinand II (husband of Queen Maria II of Portugal), the Parque da Pena covers 200 hectares of rugged granitic terrain on the heights of the Serra de Sintra. Inspired by German Romanticism and the landscape theories of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, Ferdinand transformed barren mountain rocks into an exotic botanical labyrinth. Benefiting from Sintra's unique Atlantic microclimate of perpetual coastal mists and abundant rainfall, Ferdinand introduced exotic flora from five continents: giant redwoods from California, tree ferns from Australia and New Zealand, Japanese cryptomerias, and an internationally renowned Camellia collection planted in the Queen's Fern Valley (Feto dos Fetos). The park is woven together by a network of winding carriage drives and romantic walking paths that link dramatic natural granite tors with picturesque architectural fabriques: the Grotto of the Monk, the Chalet of the Countess of Edla, the Temple of the Columns, and the Queen's Fern Valley lake system with its swan-houses. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995 as the centerpiece of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra, Parque da Pena stands as Europe's premier wild romanticist designed forest landscape.
Recommendation
Explore King Ferdinand II's 200-hectare romanticist mountain forest, walking beneath towering Australian tree ferns, California redwoods, and misty granite peaks.
Sources
The château by this garden
Discover the architecture and history of this place at Le Roi du Château.
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