Into the Mystic:
Sintra, Portugal Retreat
September 2 through 9, 2023 - SOLD OUT
NEW DATES COMING: MAY 4-11, 2024. Email to be added to pre-registration mailing list.
Into the Mystic
Join Sheila Ewers, with special guests Dennis and Kathy Lang, for a journey to a land pulsing with ancient mystical appeal, the “moon hill” where druids, Christians, Moors and nobles have been drawn for centuries.
Investigate new terrain in the outer landscape and the inner field of your own awareness as you practice daily yoga, hike ancient forests, tour mystical castles, dine on healthy local cuisine, lounge by the pool, and commune with like-minded, soulful travelers.
What’s Included:
7 nights accommodations at the boutique hotel, Casa Holstein Quinta São Sebastião
Breakfast daily
Two catered dinners
Transport to and from Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon
Day trip to a local beach with lunch
Guided hike to the Pena Palace
Wine tasting with food
One dinner in town
Unlimited access to the pool and grounds of this private sanctuary
Taxes and fees
What’s Not Included:
Airfare
Most lunches (This is to provide the maximum amount of flexibility as you will surely want to spend your free time wandering the beautiful city of Sintra and exploring the nearby castles.)
Some dinners – We will have two full-catered dinners at the hotel, and one dinner as a group in town. Overall, the price of food and wine, even in fine restaurants in Sintra, is much less expensive than the U.S.
Alcoholic Beverages (except for the wine tasting)
Travel Insurance
Accommodations
The Casa Holstein is a sanctuary in the heart of the historical village with gorgeous gardens, a spacious pool, and an airy yoga pavilion. It has a long history of illustrious guests including dignitaries and royals. Watch a video here: https://youtu.be/-jayfyRzz7Q. The boutique hotel is located within an easy walk of all of the sights of Sintra. Enjoy a luxurious and exclusive retreat environment with a world of activity right at your doorstep.
Rooming Options and Pricing:
All rooms are elegant and individually furnished, with a modern twist and attention to detail. Each has air-conditioning and heating, a minibar, free Wi-Fi access, and smartphones, with free usage for guests during their entire stay. The beds are either King size or Queen size. Bathroom amenities are provided by the exclusive brand Penhaligon’s.
Deposit
Paying your initial deposit of $500 will lock in your tuition rate and hold your space for the trip. 3 payments of balance are due by or on December 1, March 1, and June 1. Each payment is non-refundable. Balance can be paid in full at any time. For technical questions or alternative payment options, please contact us.
About Sintra
Sintra, the Moon Hill, is a place full of magic and mystery, where Nature and Man have combined in such a perfect symbiosis that UNESCO has granted it Word Heritage Site status.
What To See:
Quinta da Regaleira
The bewildering and beguiling Quinta da Regaleira is adorned with small monuments and enchanting landscape reflecting the owner’s fascination with the Masons, Knights Templar and Divination. This romantic palace is dream-like and bursts with Manueline-style masonry, but it’s in the palace park that you will be wandering in a world of mystery. Underground there’s a system of tunnels and grottoes, all intended to confuse and delight. Above are ornate gazebos, benches with sculptures and two “initiation wells”, deep shafts lined with spiral stairways leading down to sanctums for mystical ceremonies.
Pena Palace
Recently named one of Portugal’s “Seven Wonders”, Pena Palace was ordered by King Ferdinand II in 1838 on the lofty ruins of an old monastery. With its Disney-esque architecture and high setting the palace rolls together many historical styles, from Moorish to Renaissance. It was built as a summer residence and has spellbinding stuccowork and trompe l’oeil painting inside, with magnificent views of the surrounding landcape. The forests around the palace are equally awe-inspiring. Here Ferdinand II planted trees from around the world like sequoias, tree ferns, ginkgos and Lawson cypresses that rise to astonishing heights.
Castle of the Moors
High atop one of Sintra’s northernmost peaks are the ruins of a castle built by the Moors and enlarged after the Reconquista. The walls have four square towers and snake with the contours of the mountain at the top of a sheer cliff, making it a landmark sight from below and an amazing vantage point from above. From its walls you can look over the peaks, bluffs and rocky spurs, out to the Atlantic and over Sintra.
Palace of Sintra
This palace is easily recognizable by its pair of white conical towers above a mishmash of halls and annexes. The Palace of Sintra is the oldest palace in the town, and beautifully preserved. Royalty lived here on and off from the 1400s to the 1700s, and each successive occupant added a bit of their own personality, including ornate tiles in geometric patterns and magnificent coffered ceilings with the 72 coats of arms of the Portugese Royalty and Nobility.
What To Do:
Sintra is ideally located for excursions and for relaxation
Beaches - Approximately 30 minutes by car
Lisbon - Approximately 40 minutes by train directly to the historic center. (The train station is an easy walk from our hotel)
Hiking - Right at our doorstep you will find access to lush forests full of hiking trails
Shopping - The meandering streets of Sintra are full of delightful boutiques and bustling cafes.
Fátima - Approximately 1.5 hours by car. Private rides can be arranged, or with enough interest, we can book a group transfer to this beautiful and soul-stirring pilgrimage site.
Massages and bodywork can be arranged through the hotel.
Portugal Travel Details
US Citizens traveling to Portugal need a current passport. Check the expiration date to make sure that it does not expire within 6 months of your trip. Visas are not required.
Covid Requirements: For Current Covid protocols, please visit https://pt.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/
Flying into Portugal
Direct flights are available from most U.S. cities to Lisbon (LIS). Part of your package includes transportation from LIS to our hotel, but you may wish to rent a car. Parking is free and available at our location, and travel time will be approximately 40 minutes. The roads are easy to navigate and clearly marked.
We understand that booking transportation can be daunting! Don’t let that stop you from fulfilling a travel dream! Sheila is more than happy to guide you through the travel booking process if you need help. Email Sheila with any questions you may have.
About Your Host
Sheila is an ERYT 500 and YACEP teacher certified through Yoga Alliance. She trained at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and has been practicing and teaching for more than 20 years. In 2011, she created Blue Lotus Yoga, LLC which operated in two physical location in Johns Creek and Duluth, GA, Under Blue Lotus, she also launched a comprehensive online studio platform and developed Sweet Tea Yoga Festival in Alpharetta, GA. She is a published author and served as Yoga Editor for Natural Awakenings Atlanta Magazine from 2019 through 2021.
Today, Sheila owns and operates SEEK Yoga and Travel, a full service yoga platform designed to help students and seekers of all sorts develop tools for deepening consciousness, developing connection and living lives of joyful embodiment. Sheila holds additional certifications in Meditation, Yin Yoga, Thai Yoga, Bodywork, and Yoga Nidra and has trained with dozens of internationally known yoga and meditation teachers. She leads Yoga Teacher Training at both the 200 and 300-hour levels, hosts retreats and workshops both domestically and internationally and provides spiritual and professional coaching. As a former Professor of American literature, Sheila loves to explore the intersection between philosophy, poetry, religion, nature, and yoga and often brings that synthesis into her work. She continues to take advantage of every opportunity to train and learn and will forever consider herself a student of this ancient and beautiful practice.
Sheila will be assisted in Portugal by Shannon LeMintier.
Shannon is an ERYT 500, YACEP certified Yoga Alliance teacher and a Licensed Registered Dietitian Nutritionist currently living in Portugal. She has practiced and studied yoga since 1998 teaching locally, online and at international retreats. She offers in each class the physical strength of Vinyasa Flow and mental, emotional surrender through a concoction of myofascial release techniques, meditation and breath-work. In every connection and encounter she makes, Shannon strives to leave the world a better place empowering everyone she meets with an open, connected, positive image of self, others and this amazing world.
