The Bussaco Palace was one of the most luxurious royal retreats in Portugal. Back in 1888, King Charles I of Portugal commissioned an Italian operatic scene painter and architect - Luigi Manini - to build a summer palace and hunting lodge in the Buçaco Forest (250 acres of woodland originally planted by Carmelite monks). The idea was to build a new Belem Tower (the Lisbon tower which symbolises Portugal’s age of discoveries) surrounding by a tranquil sea of green forest. The building was completed in 1907, shortly before the assassination of the king and crown prince. The king's Swiss chef obtained government permission to turn the palace into a hotel in 1910, and guests have been wallowing in neo-Manueline architecture and Edwardian comforts ever since
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