Palácio de Fronteira

This beautiful garden is distinguished by its great stairways, water tanks, coloured glazed tiles (azulejo) and decorative paterres. From the plan, one might think it a renaissance garden inspired by du Cerceau and dating from the 1550s and. In fact, as the exuberant detailing reveals, the garden was made in the 1660s. The water tanks have panels decorated with azulujos, plaques and busts, adding brilliant hues to the garden: terracotta, indigo, cerulean, turquoise, lemon-yellow. The Chapel Walk is an outdoor gallery with tiled panels showing allegories of the arts and sciences. Fronteira is perhaps the finest examples of a uniquely Portuguese approach to garden design: comfortable, grand, lush, intimate and brilliantly coloured. The Duke of Wellington lived here when defending Lisbon from Napoleon's army.