Revive your romantic side with a visit to the stage of the most well-known Portuguese love story. At Quinta das Lágrimas, where Peter and Inês secretly met, there is a hotel incorporated into the Small Luxury Hotels, surrounded by gardens so rich and diverse that they equal the most complete Botanical Gardens in rarity and exoticism. Forget the past and the future and fall in love with here and now. Relax your body at an extraordinary spa and let your spirit fly away while discovering this place.
Inês Fountains
A love story becomes great because of the tales that keep it alive. And the story of Peter and Inês is no exception.
Although the Prince lived with Inês at Santa Clara Palace for many years, folk tradition says that, in order to communicate with his lover, Peter would use a pipe which went through Quinta das Lágrimas until near the Poor Clairs convent. It is said that he would put letters into small wooden boats and then they would travel across the water that came from a fountain, the Fonte dos Amores (Fountain of Love).
At Quinta das Lágrimas there is also another fountain, the Fonte das Lágrimas (Fountain of Tears) which, according to legend, is made out of the tears that Inês cried when she was murdered. It is said that the blood from her body left a stain of red seaweed which is still noticeable today.
Through the Gardens of Quinta das Lágrimas
Created to become a true herbal museum, the gardens at Quinta das Lágrimas gather species from all over the world. Their designer, Miguel Osório Cabral de Castro, took the advantage of being a friend of the Coimbra University Botanical Garden director to provide more variety to this outside space which became one of the most important places at Quinta das Lágrimas. There is a wood area – which was once used by the royal family – and a garden area near the palace. The area has great sequoias, Judas trees, Chinese fan palms, Buçaco white cedars and Himalayan cedars, a Moreton Bay Fig and even a majestic Kusamaki, which comes from Southern Africa and there’s only one more in Portugal.
