Castle Fatigue

Amongst those acquainted with travelling in Europe, there is a well-known syndrome known as "Church Fatigue". For those not in the know, this is experienced by tourists who enter churches on a regular basis for the purposes of sightseeing. It can strike at any time, depending on the strength of the tourist's constitution, the number of churches visited and their differences or similarities. I have been so keen to avoid this syndrome (which caused me, on my last European holiday, to throw in the towel and go to see some mosques in Turkey) that we have been quite selective in our viewing of religious monuments thus far. I might add that this cautious approach has also been much to the liking of Tova.

However, what I was not aware of is that there is a related syndrome, known as "Castle Fatigue", which has struck both Tova and I rather suddenly. It happened today at the Castelo da São Jorge here in Lisbon, the capital of a country with countless well-preserved and amazing Moorish and Templar castles (as well as its fair share of Roman ruins).

We started our castle tour just a few days ago near Constançia at the castle of Almoural, situated on an island in the middle of a massive river. We took a ride with the boatman for €1.50 and were the only people on the island. That is, until we heard some explosions and a couple of soldiers on a training missing saluted and walked past us.

Next, we visited Convento do Cristo in Tomar, a beautiful castle and convent complete with azelejo tiling.

Our third castle was in Sintra, on the outskirts of Lisbon, where we saw a massive Moorish fortress overlooking all of the surrounding hinterland. The ramparts also afforded great views of the neighbouring multi-coloured Palácio da Pena, also known as the "Sleeping Beauty" castle.

The fourth castle we saw was in Montemor-o-Novo (a castle which was just beginning to be excavated), the fifth in Arraiolos (which wasn't a castle at all, but was a church built inside a huge round fortified wall, which presumably once contained a castle) and the sixth and final castle here in Lisbon.

All of them have been amazing and all of them have afforded great views of the surounding countryside (or city), but I think we might just start spending some more time looking at churches from now on!