A king in love and a fairytale castle

I had an awesome day today in Sintra. Sintra is a village 30 minutes from Lisbon by car.  On the top of the highest hill is Pena Palace. Many compare it to a Walt Disney Castle and not without a reason. Disney got inspired by the german medieval castles, and this castle is design by a german (amateur) architect Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege. 

King Ferdinand II decided to rebuild the original monastery into a romantic castle for his lady, Queen Maria II. The Baron designed and the king and queen came with endless inputs. The wanted everything and therefore the castle is a mixtures of styles. The castle was finished in 1847.

Unfortunately the queen died in childbirth. The king lived here the last part of his life here together with Elisa Hensler, Countess of  Edla, an opera singer that he married. But you know how the story goes. If a man builds a castle for his wife, you can't expect the second wife to want to live there. When the king died, Elisa sold the castle.