PT RR - Surprise Group * February 25

 PT RR February's cards.

 

Eric found this postcard at a flea market. I also like going to these fairs, every now and then you find some nice cards. Sintra is one of our main tourist attractions and has been classified as a World Heritage Site since 1995. The UNESCO website says:

 In the 19th century Sintra became the first centre of European Romantic architecture. Ferdinand II turned a ruined monastery into a castle where this new sensitivity was displayed in the use of Gothic, Egyptian, Moorish and Renaissance elements and in the creation of a park blending local and exotic species of trees. Other fine dwellings, built along the same lines in the surrounding serra , created a unique combination of parks and gardens which influenced the development of landscape architecture throughout Europe. - in: https://whc.unesco.org

 

I've been to Alcácer do Sal but I don't remember seeing this sanctuary. The card was sent by Celeste. 

The Sanctuary of the Lord of the Martyrs, in Alcácer do Sal, is one of the oldest Christian temples in the country. Construction began in the 13th century by the Knights of Santiago at the time of the Reconquista, then it was expanded and enlarged in the 14th century and transformed from the 16th century onwards.

 Pedro sent a card of a palace-museum in Vigo, Spain.

 Located in the 17th-century Castrelos pazo, the museum is surrounded by beautiful gardens with 19th-century fountains and ponds.
Work began on the construction of this palace in 1670. It is one of Vigo's most beautiful buildings. The building was restored at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. It is currently home to the Quiñones de León Municipal Museum, where you can see an exhibition of archaeological remains found in the city and surrounding areas, as well as an interesting collection of paintings from Galicia. The manor house is situated in Castrelos Park, beautiful surroundings that include stunning French-style gardens - a must-see for visitors. - in: https://www.spain.info

PT RR - Surprise Group * January 25

 It's not that I don't have any postcards to show, I just haven't felt like doing so. Today laziness has been overcome and here are the 3 postcards of the RR in Portuguese that I received in January.

 

This was the first postcard that Catarina has ever sent me and she didn't choose badly at all. I confess that I don't know much about Vila Flor and I only have 2 or 3 postcards from there. 

Located in Serra do Facho, between Vila Flor and Roios, on the Senhora da Lapa hill, this is one of the most beautiful viewpoints in the municipality, affectionately nicknamed “Capelinhas”. It consists of a bandstand and 9 chapels, from different periods and types of construction. The chapel dedicated to Santa Marinha is the oldest and the chapel of Senhora da Lapa was built in 1760.

 

Tiago had already sent me a postcard of a water carrier transporting/selling water, here we have several water carriers collecting water from a well.

With this postcard, Celeste told me about the Convento dos Cardaes in Lisbon, a place I'd never heard about before.

The 17th century building is a jewel in the city, on its own right. It survived the 1755 earthquake and is one of the few pre-Pombaline structures in existence today. It houses a significant collection of sacred and decorative arts, preserved over the centuries by devoted sisters. The pride and joy of the Convent is, nevertheless, the social work initiated in the XIX century and still well alive in the presente day: the caring of women with special needs, such as blindness, who call the Convent their home and family. - in: https://www.conventodoscardaes.com