Legends Magic and Myth

Sintra’s folklore weaves together legends, magic, and myth passed down through oral tradition.

Legends

Across the Sintra-Cascais region, legends shape the imagination, daily life, and traditions of those who call this place home. A local historian that we may have the opportunity to meet described how legends can appear as external events or figures, yet his experience suggests that they are, at their heart, shared meanings – moments that reveal our common humanity and invite us to contemplate life’s deeper mysteries.

In Sintra, these legends appear like the mist that so often drifts through the forests, gliding over moss-covered stones and along winding paths. They are a quiet, living presence, subtle yet ever-present, accompanying us as we explore this extraordinary landscape.

Magic

During our retreat, we will encounter traditional beliefs and stories that have unfolded over the centuries. They remind us of magic revealed in vivid color and dreamlike abundance, painted across palace turrets, Portuguese tiles, heritage homes and etchings on ancient ruins scattered throughout the forested hills.

This landscape tells tales of lost kings seeking refuge in the mountains and queens creating hidden garden retreats that blur the boundaries between nature and imagination. Each path hints at a story, where meaning unfolds with a quiet sense of longing and the world looks back at us with an enigmatic allure. Sintra feels less like a destination and more like a spell – one we will enter for a brief time and leave only reluctantly!

Myth

Myths in this region are woven deep into the land itself. As far back as the Ancient Romans, people were drawn here by a sense of sacredness in the landscape. The Romans revered Sintra as a dwelling place of lunar deities, believing the mountains to be alive with divine power. Even today, the forests, stones, and shifting light invite us into a world shaped more by gods than by human. Yet within this otherworldly beauty, the quiet rhythms of time, nature, and fate continually call us. In Sintra, myth does not proclaim itself, it endures, embodied in the earth, reminding us that some places are not merely built, but born.