The Portuguese like to say, " Para quem sabe ler, um pingo e letra," - "for those who know how to read, a dot may be a letter." In the 19th century, Sintra became the first center of European Romantic architecture. Ferdinand the Second turned a ruined monastery into a castle of the global fame, where new spatial dimensions were achieved with an eclectic blend of Gothic, Egyptian, Moorish, and Romanesque-Baroque elements. The fine dwellings, built along the same lines in the surrounding serra, created a unique combination of parks and gardens which influenced the development of landscape architecture throughout Europe. Today, Sintra has its undeniable place in assembling the southwest European zest. While visiting Sintra for a day or two, one should not miss a single dot in its hidden cloisters, for they all have a message for the "good reader."