Secret tunnels are brilliant.
When I was little I loved stories that had secret tunnels and stuff. There was one in the first Famous 5 story Five on a Treasure Island that went under the sea from Kirrin Island, near their uncle's house, and openned at the bottom of a well. There was another story set in a big house, where secret tunnels joined up the chimneys. Called Green Knowe, or something.
Last weekend I went to a house in Sintra (just inland from beautiful Cascais, Portugal) where eccentric multi-millionaire who built it decided he wanted to live in the mansion with the secret tunnels. So he dug them all under his massive garden. He built a chapel, with a crypt underneath, and a tunnel coming out. He had a pond which you crossed on stepping stones, to a passage that went behind a waterfall and joined up with the other tunnel and led to the bottom of a well!!!
I wrote my first children's story last year, The Quaravan Quartet and The Lost Ocean (see more here) and even before I started I knew it would have a secret tunnel in it. The kids find it under the staffroom at their school....
So when I went to Quinta da Regaleira it was like being a kid and pretending to be in the Famous 5 all over again. I ran round the tunnels like an idiot, while my Mum and Dad laughed at me and I had a GREAT time...
If you're in Lisbon with three hours to spare, get the train from Rossio to Sintra and follow the signs from the town centre. You won't regret it.
