the ocean

Pena Palace is the one highest up in the mountains, and for some reason they allow you to go scrambling over the castle walls freely. Liability laws must be different in Portugal

How did they know when they started building this palace back in 1854 to include a selfie balcony? I'm assuming there was time travel involved.

I mean, come on. It's just pretty. Though I imagine a nightmare to keep clean.

The Moorish Castle is a lot older, from the 8th Century, per Wikipedia. Apparently there was lots of interest in invading Portugal back then? I'm kind of glad we live in an era where invasions seem by comparison a bit less frequent.

Ian had a bit of a fall as we were climbing along these walls, and I had visions of an international incident. Thankfully, he was fine, and the consulate did not become involved.

This is the National Palace, because there were otherwise not enough palaces. The two conical towers turned out to be smokestacks for the kitchen. In case they were like making a brisket or something.

This was the best room at the National Palace. I think it was largely used to store their VHS collection.

Quinta de Regaleira and its extensive grounds were built later, in the early 1900s. It nearly became the site of a murder when we were stuck in the ticket line behind a group of "influencers" who made everyone wait for twenty minutes while they tried to convince the staff to let them in for free. 

They had several cool grottos, and there were actually tunnels and stairs back behind them so you could go all Hardy Boys on their asses. I did have a certain level of fear that snakes would become involved, but happily that did not come to fruition.