At the tip of the nose of Europe

On a map of the peninsula, occupied by Italy, is similar to Sapozhok, and the Iberian peninsula with Portugal and Spain, its outline resembles a noble profile. Perhaps this is the face of Europe? If so, then Lisbon Riviera resorts of Cascais and Ash - Toril akkurat located at the tip of the European "nose", just west of Lisbon. And the west lies the pearl of Portugal, Sintra. Once she was elected as his residence the Portuguese kings. The great poet - a romantic, George Byron, admiring the beauty of this area, compared with the Sintra's paradise, and now the city declared a UNESCO heritage of mankind. On a high hill above Sintra flaunts its main attraction-locking foam. He looks like a medieval Moorish palace of the Emir, but in fact it was built in the XIX century. Psevdomavritanskim style and an abundance of architectural decoration of the facade royal residence, must fancy their host-crowned Bavarian Prince Ferdinand von Saxe - Coburg - Gotha. Construction and equipping of foam lasted nearly half a century, from 1840 to 1885, but the royal dynasty long enjoyed this piece of paradise: in 1910 the last Portuguese Queen Amelia left the country. Today the castle is full of tourists, which hardly contain not - Royal modest halls and rooms of the August pair. But all have enough space on the spacious terraces of the castle, offering spectacular views of the city, the surrounding valley and the ocean. From Sintra, close to Cape Roca, the westernmost point of Europe. A huge rock promontory overlooking the ocean, waves crashing on his foot. Cold wind blows cross surmounted by a stone obelisk on which the written words of the great Portuguese poet Luis de XVI century, Camoes: "Here the land ends and ocean begins. Standing at the obelisk, you feel yourself a stranger, who managed - yet to reach the edge of the land: behind-expanses of Eurasia, ahead of power-Atlantic. The point of intersection of two worlds, the magical, sacred place.