Sintra. The hiking trail and the Moorish Castle (31.10.15)

While Quinta da Regaleira is easily accessible on foot, other Sintra landmarks are located quite high. That makes most tourists reach them by bus. They don't even realize what an impressive part of the path to the top they miss! Only a few tourists (out of thousands visiting and the Pena Palace every day) prefer the hiking trail. We are among them.

The hiking trail through the mountains of the Moon offers you not only to strengthen your feet. Certain details make the ascending unforgettable.

Miraculous sceneries are everywhere:

Lots of surprises await you along the trail.

Want to play a role of a queen? Here are your throne and your crown, Your Majesty!

Need to relax after the tiring part of the ascending? What about the lovely corridor, so unusual for the forested area?

And the record-holder for surprising the tourist, who wishes to reach the Sintra landmarks, is the vending machine installed in the deserted stone building. Yep, the machine selling snacks and drinks in the godforsaken mountains with a 5-10 persons going past it within an hour. Thus, no queues for the unexpected aid for tired adventurers :)

Apart from tourists, we encountered a group of students practicing in mountaineering. Even though our path was not that difficult, it'd be enough to take a dozen steps aside, and we'd need their climbing equipment to continue the ascending.

Motivation is everything! The trail is equipped with the plans and signs informing you about your current progress. Plans (such as the one on the photo below) are absolutely clear. As for the signs, we were confused when we asked ourselves if they specify the remaining distance or the remaining height to the destination. Food for thought for those who arrange such signs which pretend to be informative.

Time to take a look around.

Have you recognized the Regaleira Palace (in the center of the photo above)? Just estimate the distance we have already covered. Then turn around.

Looks still far away from here but much closer than it seemed from Quinta da Regaleira, doesn't it?

Finally, we are there, in front of the castle built more than 1000 years ago.

Hospitable offer to conquer the castle was accepted without any hesitations ;)

Views from the castle towers and walls are breathtaking!

What makes Sintra so beautiful, is that synthesis of the man-made and natural wonders. Neither the mankind nor the nature alone can create something comparable to this. The higher you ascend the Sintra mountains, the greater miracles await you. The marvelous Pena Palace is our next destination.

Quinta da Regaleira (31.10.15)

After spending the first evening in Portugal walking around Lisbon streets without any specific purpose, just enjoying the sights, next morning we took a train to Sintra. The weather on that day was perfect: rainless (which is not a usual thing for this region in autumn) and warm (almost +20°C after around 0°C in Saint Petersburg two days earlier).

When you arrive in Sintra, you soon understand: it is an extraordinary place. Just several hundred meters away from the station, unusual buildings start to attract your attention. And it is only the very beginning of wonders awaiting you here.

Our first destination was Quinta da Regaleira. That estate had many owners, one of whom was entomologist, collector and mystic António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, also known as Monteiro the Millionaire. Quinta da Regaleira owes him its present appearance. Here is what comes into the world when an entomologist a mystic descends from a wealthy family:

The estate is full of symbols related to the most famous conspiracies the world have ever known: Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Knights Templar (even though the last organization is considered as a mystical one mostly due to the influence of a popular culture over the last two centuries), etc. I was sorry for not reading some book about Quinta da Regaleira estate before the travel (or at least, a good article. The one in Wikipedia is good only regarding advertising this place) to learn the motives behind each spot in that park. Just wandering in Quinta da Regaleira is a breathtaking experience. What would it be like if I understood this place?

The park features a system of tunnels and caves, which strengthen the feeling that you have come to a fabulous place. These hardly lit underground passages lead you from one fairy location to another one.

First I was surprised coming across this greenish lake, because I hadn't seen it in the Wiki article. Later I found out that this "necromantic" lake "magically" turns to a normal one in another season.

It was Quinta da Regaleira what prompted me to choose Portugal as a travel destination. More precisely, it was one of the park spots what attracted my attention when I came across a photo of it somewhere on the Web. Even one of that spot names sounds intriguing. Have you ever heard of "inverted/underground towers"? Here is one of them:

It is the so-called Initiation Well linked to the Tarot mysticism. Nowadays it serves not only as a place of interest but also as a junction of two levels of the park. 27-meter spiral staircase leads you to the higher level of Dante's Inferno. Nine circles of hell represented by nine terraces are the main concept underlying the park layout.

You don't feel the power of this place, you don't feel its relationship to dark things? Then just switch the daylight off.

Finally, here is the Regaleira Palace, a nice example of the Manueline, or Portuguese late Gothic.

After what you've seen outdoors before, you won't be captivated by the interior of the palace. Probably, even the two-storied library won't fascinate you much although the concept behind it is amazing: while standing on the upper storey, you see books everywhere, both above you and below, on the walls of the lower storey, barred to the public.

The exciting day in the wondrous town wasn't even halfway through. Still strolling the terraces of Quinta da Regaleira, look up.

Look closely at these two photos and on the mountain peaks you'll notice the large castle (above) and a palace of many different colors (below).

You'll be able to follow us there on foot (if you walk on foot in your imagination), but that is the story for the next time. Stay tuned! 

Airport adventures

It is time to switch back to the travel topic and to tell you about the days spent in Portugal in late October / early November. This time even the flights were eventful, so I can't help sharing recollections of them with you.

There is no direct air communication between Saint Petersburg and Lisbon. So I had to choose a transit flight for the first time in my life. Both stopovers were made in the cities familiar to me: Paris and Rome.

Part I. Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport

I know three persons who flew through Paris and whose luggage was lost in that airport (and reunited with its owner only several days after). I don't know anyone who used transit flight with stopover in Paris and got his/her luggage in the destination. If you are such person, then please let me know in order to keep the statistics up-to-date.

Do you think that they lost my luggage as well? Oh, that'd be too easy. They didn't. Actually, they couldn't. I took the necessary precautions and hadn't any luggage but the carry-on one.

Anyway, I still felt a bit nervous about that part of the journey because I had only one hour to get from one terminal to the other one. It had to be achievable (otherwise, they wouln't sell tickets Saint Petersburg - Paris - Lisbon with only one hour between two flights). When 15-20 minutes after the landing I was approaching the desired terminal on the shuttle bus I even started to think that it was easily achievable. 

Soon I realized how naive I had been: several dozens of people stood in the queue to the passport control. Fortunately, employees of Charles de Gaulle Airport turned out to be very efficient so I successfully passed to the next level of the thrilling adventure "Board the plane in time" sooner than I expected. 

The path was not clear yet: a minute later I ran into the luggage control. It was absolutely unexpected: being a transit passenger I didn't saw any sense in this additional interim check (moreover, on the way back there was no luggage control in Rome). I still had around 15 minutes when I passed this stage as well...  

I was nearly running (as far as it is possible in such a crowded place like Paris main airport) glancing from time to time at the indicator boards telling me "Boarding. Last call" and at the signs assuring me that I'm moving in the right direction. Finally I was there, in the large oval hall with the boarding gates along its boundary. Certainly, my gate was in the opposite corner of the hall which center was crowded...

Five minutes later I felt relieved sitting in the plane. It'd be very sad to spoil the marvelous days awaiting me because of being late for a flight. Note to self: never choose a transit through Charles de Gaulle having less than three hours between two flights!   

Part II, in which the absence of luggage becomes a source of problems. Rome, Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport

I had 2 hours 15 minutes this time. There was no crowd willing to pass the passport control and no other obstacles as well. That's why an hour before the boarding I just sat down near my gate and continued to watch "Truffaldino of Bergamo" on my tablet.

When the boarding time came, it turned out that they changed the gate (without notifying the passengers as far as I could see by the behaviour of the others). The new gate was located nearby but out of sight for us who waited near the prevously announced one. Anyway, it couldn't cause any troubles, just irritated me a little.

First thing I had to do was to print a ticket (in Lisbon I was able to print the ticket only for the first part of the route). Before that I had a funny conversation in broken English from both sides with the employee of the airport whom I told three times that I have no luggage, and thus, no bag tag number from the Lisbon-Rome part of the trip. Then I moved to the neighbouring queue (for the boarding). Soon I showed my ticket aaaand... yep, it turned out that they printed me a ticket with some bag tag number! I'm still curious what was in the luggage corresponding to that number :) However, I had to print my ticket once again and here my troubles began. 

It took them merely seven attempts to print a new ticket for me (I guess there was some conflict with already printed tickets). And their system... oh, it was undoubtedly the handiest one I've ever seen. To begin with, it was DOS-like, with command line interface only, and the employee who was trying to resolve my issue didn't seem to feel comfortable with it. But its main feature was that the passport data had to be typed in from scratch after each unsuccessful attempt. Hope they didn't memorize my name and my passport number for the rest of their lives :)

Airline departure delay implicitly connected with myself - achievement unlocked :)

And one more airport I will be cautious to use as a stopover in the future.

Paris historical views in 3D

Recently I was looking through the notes on my phone and came across the entry which dates back to my visit to Paris in September of 2014, to the day which I spent on the Île de la Cité where the Notre-Dame de Paris is situated. Just in front of the cathedral you can notice the stairs leading underground, to the Archaeological Crypt. This crypt is basically the museum built around the exhibits which are dating back to the times of Lutetia, the ancestor of Paris. Like many other European museums, the subterranean one contains interactive displays. There is a couple of them just in the midst of the Roman ruins. One of those displays presents 3D models of the Notre-Dame de Paris at different stages of construction. Touchscreen monitor allows you to zoom these models in and out and literally to fly around them. Near the monitor I found a tablet with the link on it. This link – Paris.3ds.com – is the contents of the above-mentioned note.

Being under the Parvis Notre-Dame – place Jean-Paul-II (it is the name of the square where both the Notre-Dame de Paris and the Archaeological Crypt are located), I thought that this website contains something like what I was watching on the monitors at the moment. I totally forgot about this note when I came back home. Finally, I checked it out. Well... it is much more than what I've seen staying amidst the ruins of Lutetia.

Not only Notre-Dame de Paris but many other famous Paris sights are reconstructed in the virtual space. On the screenshot below you can see only some of them:



Click upon any of the sights and after several seconds you will find yourself flying around it. You will be also proposed to listen to a short lecture (available in French and English) on its history.






Isn't it incredible?!

This website will meet you with several obstacles:

• You will need to install a plugin or two.
• It takes some time to get accustomed to the controls.

Good quality of internet connection is vital to experience the greatness of this portal. You'll also need to show your patience because each page may take a couple of minutes to load.

But it's worth the price!

When I tried to remember any other ways to "walk around" the beautiful European cities while sitting at home, I came up only with Assassin's Creed videogame series and Google Street View. Both of them have serious pitfalls. As for the first option, I believe, it's hard to concentrate on perceiving the beautiful while playing a stealth-action game. As for the second one, it lacks smooth moving (and thus reminds old-style quests if I continue making comparison with videogames). Moreover, Google Street View's time machine allows to go back in time only to 2007. But what if I want to walk around the Louvre in 1810? Oh, it's not a problem anymore :)

     

Learning foreign languages with songs

Do you use foreign-language songs for your listening comprehension skills improvement? I do. Sometimes it is hard for me to make out the words of a song. Until recently, in such cases I searched for the lyrics on the Internet and ended up either on some lyrics online base or on Youtube, watching a lyrics video (by the way, such videos can be true objects of admiration... and blinking causes of eyes ache at the same time). This approach has one serious disadvantage: I have to look aside each time I need help to understand the words. Several weeks ago I've found the way not to waste any time for it. Here is how my iTunes looks now:



The solution is called MiniLyrics. Each time a new song starts playing, this app automatically searches for the song lyrics in a large user-generated database.

MiniLyrics is supported by various operating systems and media players.



You can view the lyrics not only for the English-language songs. However, since the online base is user-generated, you would fail to find the lyrics for most non-English songs. I don't consider this as a serious drawback: I regard French-language songs as much more understandable ones than the English-language songs (probably, this is because I prefer different genres of music in these two languages), so I need English lyrics more than anything else. If your preferences both in music and in language learning differ from mine, here are the examples of lyrics in German, Finnish and Russian:







Lyrics are time-synchronized. On one hand, it's another source of bad user experience (because of wrong timestamps in the lyrics file or a truncated audio file). On the other hand, you can use your favorite media player as a karaoke tool. For some songs, the line which is currently being played is highlighted as if MiniLyrics tries to resemble karaoke even more.




MiniLyrics requires an Internet connection to find and download the lyrics. Once downloaded, they can be stored on your hard drive (if you configure the application properly) and later be used again even if you are offline. This is one more great advantage of MiniLyrics over other ways of searching for songs words.

As for you, what features would you include into an application/plugin for the audio player aiming to help language learners?

What dictionary do you use?

Over the last month this blog, initially devoted to self-development, began to resemble a travel blog. Now it's time to join these two principal topics. What helps us when we travel abroad and can be referred to self-improvement at the same time? Yes, I am speaking about foreign languages, even though I do it in a roundabout way (if you have other suggestions about what lies at the intersection of travels and personal development, feel free to share them in the comments). Now let's turn to one of my favorite hobbies, language learning.

Core part of each language is its lexicon. In case of second-language acquisition, you have to build your vocabulary proactively. Thus, a dictionary becomes your close friend. But nowadays there are hundreds of dictionaries available in both printed and digital form. Which one to pick out?

My choice is Word Reference. Here is why I like it:

• It has many dictionaries gathered in one place. English ↔ French, Conjugation of French verbs, English synonyms, English ↔ Russian, Explanatory English – these 5 (or 7 if you treat a dictionary with two-way translations as two dictionaries) items constitute the full set of dictionaries which I need. But Word Reference has much more: for instance, French ↔ Spanish, Explanatory Spanish, Spanish ↔ Portuguese, English ↔ Romanian, English ↔ Turkish, English ↔ Korean, etc.
• Most articles of bilingual dictionaries of Word Reference comprise illustrative examples of a word/phrase usage in both languages. Honestly speaking, these examples are quite poor in case of English ↔ Russian dictionary, that's why I still prefer ABBYY Lingvo for this kind of translations. But I'm absolutely satisfied with the quality of examples in English ↔ French dictionary.
• When you search for some combination of words, Word Reference provides you not only with the corresponding dictionary articles but also with the links to relevant topics on its forum. Sometimes native speakers' posts there shed light on a slight difference between the meanings of two similar words which cannot be grasped from the dictionary article. 
• Finally, it is handy for translating when you are working in a web browser. When I want to use Word Reference I just type in the address bar a dictionary identifier and a phrase I'd like to work with. For example,
• enfr this redirects me to this page; 
• conj être; 
• fren très;
• syn convenient;
• To turn the above-described magic on visit this page and follow the instructions.

As for you, what dictionary do you prefer and why?

Tampere. Part IV. Särkänniemi

Do you know any success story in the world of game development more amazing than the one of the Rovio company? At the beginning of 2009 it was close to bankruptcy. Next year millions of people all over the world enjoyed shooting green pigs on their mobiles using undoubtedly the angriest weapon in history. Soon after that plush birds of various colors and sizes flooded shops. Next summer we'll watch the movie based on the most successful product of the company which almost went out of existence seven years ago. And at the end of last summer I visited Angry Birds Land - large area in Särkänniemi park in the northern part of Tampere.

When I entered the park and saw dozens of attractions, gigantic Angry Birds themed store, kiosks selling Mighty Eagle Snacks and Red Bird Sweets and, of course, a multitude of cheerful children with their parents, I realized that I failed to grasp the greatness of Rovio creation. By making relatively small mobile game (and later its sequels) they actually built a brand new universe for kids.

Even litter bins are "angry-birdish" here. Isn't it a nice approach to teach children not to leave litter about?

By the way, the park in Tampere is not unique. Here comes the proof. I didn't say that Angry Birds is a brand new universe only for Finnish kids because it is an object of worldwide worship!

Angry Birds Land is only a part of Särkänniemi. There you can also find lots of other attractions, a dolphinarium, a planetarium... I had only a couple of hours before it gets too dark. I decided to spend the most part of that time outdoors trying to visit every corner of the park. Have you ever seen anything like this?

Yup, it's a water rollercoaster, called "Log River". Definitely too hard to withstand for my vestibular system but looks thrilling from the outside and should be an exciting experience for those who enjoy ordinary ("dry") rollercoasters, slides in waterparks or even kayaking.

In each city, which I visit, I try to find an observation deck. So I can't help taking a view of Tampere from the top of Näsinneula observation tower situated in Särkänniemi as well. Before that day, I looked from above only at old cities with ancient buildings, tiled roofs and narrow streets. They were great but pretty much the same. Tampere is newer, it was founded less than 250 years ago. Moreover, Näsinneula is situated not in the center of the city but on its side, near the lake. That's why this time the view was a novelty for me. Tampere looks like a cozy place, don't you think so?