SINTRA

Of all 890 WH sites, the nearest to my Estoril home is Sintra (and the nearest to my Brussels apartment is the Grand-Place). I shall not self-complain!
In fact Sintra's nomination does not pertain to any specific building or monument and is officialy labelled "Cultural Landscape of...". Anyhow some architectonical and vegetal structures are remarkable and must be considered: The Royal Palace in town, the Moors Castle, the Romantic Pena Palace, the Seteais and Monserrate Palaces, the masonic Quinta da Regaleira, the Capuchos Frairy, plus several ancient churches, parks, forests and the narrow crooked streets in the urban centre. Are the well known and well eaten "queijadas" (cheese cakes) also part of Sintra's cultural landscape? And what about Lord Byron verses in "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" where he writes "Sintra's glorious Eden intervenes in variegated maze of mount and glen."? The word is for the heritage specialists - but for me both are also part of it: I have made up my mind since when I begun visiting Sintra, well before it was appointed a WH site.
In the picture: Quinta da Regaleira in a winter foggy day.

ALMOUROL

How many castles in the middle of rivers do you know? Not many for sure, as few do exist.
I only know two so far, both visited: one in the Rhine, the Pfalz by Caub, in a small sandy island and Almourol, a solid medieval fortress standing on a granite rocky island in the medium river Tagus. The name Almourol explains it all, although I do not know the exact meaning: it's related to the moors, who built some defensive structure on a site earlier occupied by the romans. After the moors were defeated, the island was given to the Templar Knigts and they built the castle still existing today, with the external walls and towers almost intact, but with the interior a lot ruined. The view from the higher tower is imposing and refreshing, as you may see yourselves, first best by paying a visit ( nearest town is Constância, where lived Camões, the great Portuguese XVI century poet), or, second best, by looking my annexed picture.
If I may argue with myself, there is a third castle I know in the middle of a river: facts are that it is more just a tower than a castle and it was in the middle of a river but it is no more, as the river shore advanced. It is the Belém Tower, in Lisbon, which is a World Heritage site.