Boy howdy folks do I have a whale of a tale for you! You ever just set your mind so firmly on something that you defied reason and rational in order to get what you want? That was us getting to this castle. Our day started at 6:30am when we got up and ready to walk the 10 minute trip to the train station by by 7:15am. We caught the 8:00am train towards Sete Rios, where we'd been the day before, and made our way to the bus station right next door. Having bought our tickets 're day before we situated ourselves in a moderately hard bench for an hour awaiting our 9:30am bus. In this time we both used our phones to again try and figure out how to get from the bus station in Ponte De Lima, which we decided was probably the Central Station (though we couldn't be sure), to the Paco da Gloria. We had no success but we did had saved a map of an 11 minute walk to a taxi which we decided we'd walk to once we arrived at the station. We sobbed at the idea of spending money on a taxi, but whatever the cost we were going to pay it to get to this castle!
At the station we finally ate our breakfast, a pastry each because we'd run out of bread for toast, just before our bus rolled up. Jess and I were some of the first on which was good and bad. Good: we found seats right away. Bad: we didn't read 're ticket right and there are assigned seats and had to move to find ours when the correct passengers showed up! We're silly geese. We did find out seats though which weren't far from the ones we'd chosen for ourselves and we got nice and situated for the long drive ahead! The drive was almost exactly 5 hours and had five stops, the last stop being Ponte de Lima. The bus did have a bathroom, but here's a thing we learned through experience. The bathroom on the bus is locked so you have to ask for a key. Once you ask for the key they 'turn on' the bathroom from the front, meaning they turn on the lights and the water. It makes sense that they would do this - It must cost something to run the water and electricity in the bathroom so why run it all the time? If people have to ask the key then the driver and the attendant know someone is going to use it and can turn it on and off as the key is exchanged. If they're close to a stop though, they'll just tell you that they're coming up to a stop so you can go then. But here's the thing: Public bathrooms are not free in Portugal (or in Paris which is why Jess and I took the metro back to our AirBnB when we had to use it). They're not outrageously expensive, ranging usually from 25 cents to a full euro (except at the Louvre mall-carousel area where it was 2 euro and 25 cents which is outrageous, at least comparatively speaking) but the bus bathroom is free to use. Still, they prefer you pay for the bathrooms at the station rather than use the one on the bus so they certainly encourage you to just wait until we stop. Jess got given that run-around, the attendant not mentioning the one at the station would cost 25 cents, so we just waited until we were driving again to have me ask for the key so we could both go. Not sure if that's useful information for anyone, but that's what's up with Portuguese buses. Still better than the one we rode in Ireland that didn't have a toilet at all though, so pros and cons!
Bathroom situation well in hand, we arrived at 2:30pm-ish to the Central de camionagem, or the Central Station. It was the stop Jess and I had guesstimated to be the right one so we had a general idea of where we were in relation to the castle. Still, the Paco da Gloria was a 10 minute car drive away so we were still sticking with the walk to the taxi station. We were sort of confused about the directions we had to get there but what'd you know, we came across a taxi we assume had just dropped some off! There was a slight language barrier and he wasn't sure how to get to Paco da Gloria exactly as he'd never gone there but he made a call, gave us an estimate of the cost of the drive (upon my asking) and off we went! The ride was a thrill as Jess and I wondered the whole time if we'd chosen the right place. The scenery was beautiful during the ride though, reminding us very much of the rolling green hills of Ireland as we swooped and swivled down the thin and winding roads. Jess and I were still worried we weren't going to the Paco da Gloria but as soon as we saw signs pointing towards it we knew we were at least headed the right way for what we came to see, even if it wasn't the right castle!
A tall but thin archway greeted us before the castle itself. The archway was very obviously made for horses and people but not cars as the driver attempted to navigate his way in. He could have just dropped us off outside of it but once he started going through there was no turning back. He had to flatten his side-view mirror to fit in, but he actually managed it and the castle came into view. It was smaller than expected, surrounded by more trees than we imagined, but there was no doubt it was the one from the postcard! We'd found the right castle and we'd made it there! A weird thing happened when we were paying the driver though. I asked him what was an appropriate tip in Portugal as I didn't know and didn't care if he said more money than it usually was because we'd found the castle and I felt on top of the world! But he didn't understand and instead put me on the phone with Benjamin, one of his employers who speaks English. I tried to speak to him but the connection was bad so I decided to let it go, but Jess got on the phone and used the time to schedule for us to be picked up at 5:00pm outside the Paco da Gloria, which was quite clever of her because we'd need that! That handled we said farewell to our driver and admired the castle.
There were people around setting up for a wedding that was set to happen this weekend which we'd been informed of previously by Leno. None of them said anything to us though and we were to shy to make fools out of ourselves with them so we just nonchalantly wandered around the grounds, what little there were. The 'castle' is much smaller than the American newspapers exaggerated it to be but it was still a lovely old building with a great view! We decided to try our luck inside to see if anyone was there. It is, after all, a hotel so we figured someone had to be there for people seeking rooms. We were wrong. The inside looks much the same as any old building with no place for checking in or anything. The door we walked through led to some kind of parlor room attached to an almost empty room on the right and billiards room on the left. Both had connecting rooms, but still nowhere a person might find someone to check in or ask questions. On the way outside we were encountered by a person who spoke only Portuguese. We explained that we'd spoken to Leno on the phone and he nodded and walked away. We followed his general direction back to the front of the house where we dawdled a little bit debating what to do when the man we'd run into returned with someone else. The second man asked if we were looking for Leno and we said yes and he said "That's me!" and we were very relieved. We shook his hand and he apologized for being a little messy as he was working in the garden to prepare for the wedding. We certainly had no qualms with that and we chatted while he showed us around.
He took us to the backyard that we'd already sort of trespassed through then took us up the outdoor staircase to the second floor through the balcony doors. There we saw a grand hallway filled with all kinds of busts that he explained were copies of ones from the Louvre! He then took us to a small room where he showed us the picture of Count Alexio that he had mentioned over the phone and let us take pictures. When we left that room he asked us to wait a moment while he went and found Robert Illing, the owner of the hotel! He'd returned just in time to be there when we were! A Californian he was exceptionally American and we all had a pleasant time getting introduced. We explained that we were students from Stetson University being paid by the school to conduct research on the life of Elizabeth Stetson, Countess de Santa Eulalia. He was more than happy to talk to us and we went out onto the balcony for a chat. There was a cat there named Amadeus whom Jess held while she and Robert spoke and I took notes.
Robert Illing told us the history of the castle, which he just calls a house and is probably a better title given how small it is. It's a manor of course, it's not like it's a flat, but it isn't what it's been hyped up to be in America. While newpapers claimed it was a "100 room castle" it has really maybe 20 with only 4 bedrooms in total. The grounds of the castle were used back in the early centuries as a Roman building of some kind, then over the ruins was built small square tower in 1230. In the 1720's that building was taken down and the castle as we saw it was put in with very few modifications over the years. It was originally just used for tenant farmers until Count Alexio bought it and fixed it up. Now there are claims Alexio inherited the castle but Robert explained that the Alexio was the fourth son of his family and wouldn't have inherited anything, not even a title. The title likely comes from the king, Manuel II, whom he convinced to give it to him somehow along with perhaps a few other honors. Alexio didn't make too many changes to the castle while he fixed it up though, only adding several touches from a torn-down convent including a series of bells, battlements, and pinnacles for decoration to make the castle appear more mideval. He also added a series of pipes he aquired from Porto which ran gas and spewed fire which he used to do shows at night. All artists are crazy, man.
After our conversation Leno said farewell as he had to head down to the Refois Monestary. He offered to drive us there, as it was the second piece of land the Count bought (or inherited) but he couldn't drive us back and while the walk was only 45 minutes we didn't have that kind of time. Illing took us back inside where he showed us almost all the rooms of the house including a parlor-study area where there was a genealogy of the count and several pictures in a scrapbook of Elizabeth and Alexio! Jess got photographic copies of everything while I still took notes in each room he led us through including the dining room which was originally the castle entrance, and the downstairs which was originally only used for farmers, tools, wine, and animals. It was used differently when Alexio owned it, but as he wasn't using it much since he and Elizabeth lived in Philadelphia mostly he let farmers live in it until his death. After he died they remained there for some time but Elizabeth and her son from John B. Stetson never paid the taxes on it so it was siseiz by the government in 1937 and sold for only 600 euro to an Englishman who lived there for 40 years. That owner also changed very little about the castle though so it remains in fairly accurate condition from when it was built in the 18th century.
We explored a bit outside, saying hello to the sweet little cat running around again, before he offered to take us to see the house the count was born in and his descendants lived! We gladly accepted and he drove us to the house, named literally Home Of The Beautiful View which is certainly true! From the front porch of the house there's the most spectacular view of all of Porto! We met Louisa there, the great-great-grand niece of Alexio who was more than happy to show us around the house and show us what they had of Alexio and Elizabeth. A bit of weirdness though is that they all call her not Elizabeth Stetson, but Marie Isabella Stetson. We're not sure where they got that name from but everyone calls her that there for some reason. They also know nothing about Stetson University, which they thought was in Philadelphia and was founded by "Marie Isabella"'s blood family. Stetson is in fact in Florida and was founded by Henry Deland, though it's named after Stetson because Elizabeth and her first husband donated so much money to save it. Funny how we all got our information jumbled up across the continants. They know nothing of Stetson University or Elizabeth but everything about the Count and the Castle while we're the exact opposite!
The tour through the house showed us several documents and pictures from Alexio's time and we were shown a sweet private church that is right inside the house that came from the time of Alexio's family. We couldn't stay too long as we had a taxi to catch at 5:00pm. We said farewell and thank you when we left at 4:57pm and hurried back to the castle to meet our cab. Robert said it was a shame for us to come all this way to not see the monestary and offered to tell the taxi driver to go the route by the monestary so we could stop and take pictures. We said we'd love that and when we met the driver he explained it was all sorted. Leno was back as well and both he and Robert gave us their business cards to email with anymore questions and to send final versions of our research. We thanked both of them very much for their help then climbed into the taxi for the drive back. The driver didn't speak any English but he gladly stopped at the monestary for us to get pictures and see it then drove us to the bus stop where we arrived exactly half an hour before our 5:50pm bus ride!
The bus didn't arrive until 5:50pm exactly but it gave us time to eat the ham and cheese sandwiches I'd packed and discuss things. Instead of discussing the castle, however, we elected to discuss a family that had been on the bus with us on the way up. This family was totally zonked out! There was a mother, two boys who were maybe 8 and 6, and two grandparents. When they got on the bus though, they realized booking their tickets seperatly meant they were sitting in seperate spots, which they didn't like. They tried to ask a couple to move seats but either the people didn't understand or said no, which they're entitled to do. So they tried to get the driver involved to get them to sit together but as there was no reason they needed to all sit together they didn't do anything about it. They decided then to figure out how to split up. The mother sat in the back with grandpa and one of the boys while grandma sat in the front of the bus with the other boy. Seems fine, right? Wrong. The boys were swapped off intermittently between the mother and grandma during the ride and the mother frequently went to the front to give the grandma things the boy had forgotten to take with him, like his hat which didn't seem particularly urgent. Near the end of the trip it became obvious the boys wanted to sit with each other and just shouted conversations to one another from either side of the bus. No one seemed happy about this but the mother and grandparents had no issue letting it happen. The woman in front of us, however, had had enough. The boy's antics across from her in his seat had resulted in him kicking her a few times and she was gonna do something about it. At the last stop before we arrived at Ponte de Lima the boy and his grandma went to the back of the bus to acquire his lunch or something, so the woman in front of us grabbed her son's large duffle bag and chucked it on the seat across from her taking up the whole space so he couldn't sit there. Power. Move. When grandma and the kid got back they discovered the seat there was taken, forcing the child to actually sit in the available seat next to the grandmother instead of taking up two of his own. I think they all got the message and the kids were controlled from that point on. That woman is my hero.
Anyway, we discussed that while we sat and ate and awaited out bus. 5:50pm came and the bus showed up to whisk us away for another 5 hour drive! At one of the stops two American girls climbed on and checked the bathroom only to discover it was locked. We happily explained what we'd learned about the key being up front and felt like seasoned travelers even though we'd learned it just that morning! The ride back was basically empty with very few people taking a bus to Lisbon set to arrive at 10:50pm. Still, it wasn't totally uneventful as the Lunar Eclipse Blood Moon occureoc right outside our window and we got to watch the whole thing! It was way cool and an amazing end to our crazy day! The day wasn't over yet though and once the bus stopped we trekked to the train station to take a 20 minute train ride back to Corroios where we walked the final 10 minutes back to our house where we quickly ate a bowl of peas for dinner and totally crashed. Total Travel Time Calculations: 10 hours on buses, 40 minutes on trains, 20 minutes in taxis, 20 minutes walking all in one day for 2 hours at a castle. We're clinically insane.
