Castles & palaces in Portugal

Ruins from three periods of Lisbon's past, the first settlements of the 7th century B.C., an 11th-century Moorish quarter and a palace destroyed by the 1755 earthquake; a camera obscura in the Ulysses Tower that shows the city and the river in real time; and a museum of objects found in the citadel, with an emphasis on the Moorish period.

A guided tour of the palace's rooms: the Hall of Nations under an iron and glass dome ringed by the coats of arms of 20 countries, the Noble Staircase, twelve paintings by Henrique Medina in the Jurors Room, and the Arabian Room, inspired by the Alhambra.

King Ferdinand II's castle-like palace crowning the Sintra hills, reached by the winding paths beneath its park's dense woodland.