The Quinta da Regaleira garden in Sintra, Portugal Part 1

A couple a weeks ago when I was in Lisbon Portugal I decided to take care of a dream of mine. 

I went to the train station and took the 40 minutes ride up to the amazing town of Sintra!

Ones the summer retreat of Royalty, Nobless and Famous from all over Europe (Agatha Christie wrote some of her books here), now a dramatic lush fairytale garden landscape where everybody have access to the former private gardens.

Since it's weeks worth of exploring did I start with one of the most spectacular ones:

QUINTA DA REGALEIRA

Ones owned by Baroness da Regaleira, bought 1893 by Carvalho Monteiro family who had the Set designer and Architect Luigi Manini to start design the  rocky gardens 1998-1900.

Enjoy my stroll of the Hillside gardens in Autumn colours:

It's Autumn with it's beautiful colours

The lower gardens have a lot of fantastic ferns, both in tree forms and lower sorts where one can find antique statues embedded in the lush landscape

 And some Fuchsias

 The Pisoes Loggia

 One of the many amazing benches

 The Fountain of Regaleira

 Leda's Grotto, one of the many caves in this rocky garden.

 The garden is full of exciting ravines, streams, bridges, caves and underground walkways

Portal of the Guardians, which has a secret entrance to the amazing Initiatic Well which I show in the next blogg

I will continue my stroll trhough these stunning gardens in the next blogg!

Enjoy, Per!

Azienda Trinita, a Sicilian Garden of Eden

I had the enormous luck to be invited to a Garden and Cooking tour when in Catania.Sicily the other day!

The tour took us up the slopes of Etna, to the village of Mascalucia & the old family farm Azienda (Villa) Trinity, where we attended a cooking class with Ana-Maria and a Garden tour with Salvatore.

The oldest house on the property is from 1609 and the Garden are divided in several gardens, some for food and some for pleasure, or both.

It's fall and not many flowers bloom, but nevertheless is the garden stunning.

The cooking is all organic and unbelivably tasty.

Please enjoy this pretty big photo tour of mine, and I hope I can give You a feeling of the Italian Beauty!

AZIENDA TRINITA

The proud owner Salvatore showing his beautiful garden with passion and great knowledge. A Property Map.

 The old Cistern at the cortyard

 Lavender and beautíful Terracotta paths in the Herbal Garden

Almonds, nearly ready to be picked

 Blood Grapefruit

Aubergine. Beautiful pots where found here and there in the garden!

Many different intresting pines

Mulberry. Ancient Irrigation system.

Olives

Geraniums

Garden decorations

Shady Garden Paths

Genuine Antique decor can be seen all over the garden

Cactae & one of the most beautiful Olive trees I've seen

A great cooking demonstration by Ana-Maria in the Kitchen where followed by a fantastic lunch

Started of with Carpaccio di Zucchine

and Caponata con Peperoni

Yummi Garlic bread :9

The condiments for the Spaghetti Aeolian Style

The main course was Pollo All'uva, no photos unfortunately, but here is the deliscious Crostata Limone, mmmmm for desert

And some of the great house wine

After a fantastic lunch with some Italian opera arias to go with, we ventured out in the gardens again:

Bougainvillea

 Vesuvio painted on the mantel piece in the dining room

One of the friendly dogs on the property

A bucket at the Cistern and a old lawn mover

I love the play of shadows in the garden

 The back piece of a old horse carriage

The entrance to the pool & pond area

 Along the drive way up to the villa

Another of the dogs, a lab puppy, happily running on the polished lavarock pavement

Palm Garden

One of the beautiful benches & the Church outside the gate

I hope You enjoyed this garden, I certainly did, and will hopefully come back when it's spring and all the flowers bloom.

Thank You for joining, Per!