Photography, Travel

The “Guardian of the Gate” at the Palace of Pena in Sintra, Portugal

February Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Statues”

“I am neither man nor fish.”

Half of the realm of water and half of the world of men, he guards the entrance to the palace.

“I dare you to enter,” he seems to say.

He crouches, alert, eyes bulging, atop a barnacle-encrusted abalone shell. Beneath him, his legs morph from flesh to scales.

Once you pass through that vaulted entrance, a magical world of Moorish and “Manueline” (a sumptuous style of Portuguese architecture from the 16th century ) stonework surrounds you. I felt as if I had stepped into a fairy tale.

And, indeed, the local lore is that Walt Disney, himself, modeled his own castle after the Palace of Pena.

Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, married Queen Maria II of Portugal in 1836 and became “King-consort.” An artist by nature, when he saw the ruins of the Monastery of Saint Jerome in Sintra, which formerly sat upon this site, he purchased the land with his own funds. And thus began his “passion project” — the building of the palace.

The site was designated a National Monument in 1910 and a UNESCO heritage site in 1995. To view it is to catch a glimpse inside the mind of a true visionary.

I’ve been doing some home remodeling and have been utterly consumed with so many small details. I can’t even imagine the scale of the project that Ferdinand II undertook when transformed that crumbling monastery into the whimsical palace it evolved into.

So, go ahead, step through that gate. The guardian looks fierce. But he doesn’t bite.

Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).

You might also want to check out a few other talented six word photo story writers, whom I enjoy:

You might also want to check out a few other talented six word photo story writers, whom I enjoy: JoAnn Ryan, Jason Edmunds, Anne Bonfert, Sanghita Pal, Dennett, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Rodrigo S-C, Arun, Julia A. Keirns, Penny Grubb, pockett dessert, Allisonn Church, Sandi Parsons, Hollie Petit, Ph.D., Amethyst Qu, Dr. Preeti Singh, Erie Astin, Sharing Randomly, and of course, Mary Chang Story Writer.

Thank you to Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles for the February Challenge of telling a whole story with only six words:

Photo and story ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.