Art

We went to Sintra today, but I forgot to charge the camera battery last night, and it had expired by lunchtime. So don't expect any touristy photos of the Pena Palace from me. What a ridiculously kitsch place that is, stuffed with ghastly 19th-century tat  -- the Saxe-Coburgs clearly had a lot more money than taste. Here's S's take on this architectural gem. In the older part of this converted and extended monastery there was a cloister with some genuine medieval tiling and stonework, but even there they'd added their own Romantic touches.

I took this blip in the National Palace, which is much more refined. The camera battery had run out by this point, so I borrowed S's phone to capture this cheery chap. He reminds me of a Cocteau drawing; there was some really spectacular tile art here. The museum of tiles is on our agenda, but we're waiting for a rainy day -- which may arrive tomorrow judging by the cloud cover when we got back to Lisbon.