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Sintra, Portugal

Quinta da Regaleira Sintra, Portugal

Sintra is city in Portugal, not far from Lisbon. Sintra is a major tourist destination in Portugal, famed for its picturesqueness and for its numerous historic palaces and castles.

One of the main attraction is Quinta da Regaleira. Quinta da Regaleira is classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The property consists of a romantic palace and chapel, and a luxurious park that features lakes, grottoes, wells, benches, fountains, and a vast array of exquisite constructions. The park is around  four hectares of land in the surrounding estate consists of a densely treed park lined with myriad roads and footpaths. The Initiation Wells (or inverted towers) are two wells on the property that better resemble underground towers lined with stairs. These wells never served as water sources. Instead, they were used for ceremonial purposes that included Tarot initiation rites. The tunnels described above connect these wells to one another, in addition to various caves and other monuments located around the park. Of the two wells, the larger one contains a 27-meter spiral staircase with several small landings. The spacing of these landings, combined with the number of steps in the stairs, are linked to Tarot mysticism. The smaller well contains straight stairs that connect a series of ring-shaped floors to one another. This well is also called the ‘Unfinished Well’.

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