This delightful retreat is the garden of the former bishop's palace, an 18th-century baroque whimsy of clipped box hedges, pools and grand staircases. Scattered around its manicured confines are numerous stone figures, representing the virtues, seasons, kings, saints, months and continents, among other things. Notice how the statues of Portugal’s Spanish-born kings Felipe I and II are smaller than those of the Portuguese-born monarchs.
At the bottom of the kings’ stairway, there’s a hidden, clap-activated fountain. This strange folly was supposedly built by a loutish 18th-century bishop who liked to surprise maidens by soaking their petticoats.
