Sintra and Cascais - 14 May

Early start again this morning for our booked tour to Sintra. Taxi booked for 7.30 so that we were at the pick up point by 7.45 for the planned tour start time of 8. We took a taxi because the map we were given was so hard to follow that we figured the taxi was our best bet to get where we needed to be at the right time. Turned out we could easily have walked to it! Anyway, there are 2 women from Dublin and a Canadian woman waiting with us for our trip. Hugo is our driver and Carlos was the in-training sidekick. We thought we were all ready to go, but Hugo told us we were waiting for 2 more who finally showed up at 8.13, with not a word of apology for being late. Mind you we never saw them speak to each other the entire day so perhaps there was trouble in paradise. So, off we had for a full day tour. Our first stop is at Sintra. Lots of narrow winding streets and hairpin turns with good views back to Lisbon. Unfortunately I was sitting in the middle seat so wasn't able to take any photos in the van, but as Julie said, the windows weren't real clean so didn't allow for any photos. Once at Sintra we had a good look around. The Palace of Sintra, also called Town Palace is located in the town of Sintra. It is a present-day historic house museum. It is the best-preserved medieval royal residence in Portugal, being inhabited more or less continuously from at least the early 15th century to the late 19th century. It is a significant tourist attraction, and is part of the cultural landscape of Sintra, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is very hilly and the narrow cobblestoned streets cettainly give the place a wonderful old world charm.

Back in the van and with even more winding narrow streets and hairier hairpin bends we arrive at Pena Palace. The castle stands on the top of a hill in the Sintra Mountains above the town of Sintra, and on a clear day it can be easily seen from Lisbon and much of its metropolitan area. It is a national monument and constitutes one of the major expressions of 19th-century Romanticism in the world. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is also used for state occasions by the President of the Portuguese Republic and other government officials. It has a really interesting history of its humble beginnings, earthquakes and then eventual rebuilding and restoration. The 570 metre walk up to the palace, on a 14 degree incine had me puffing and panting, but I got there eventually. We had paid extra for a tour of the palace, and although it was slow going a lot of the time with so many people going through the palace, it really was grand.

The Palace is a vibrant mix of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Renaissance, and Moorish designs, set amidst lush gardens. The Pena Park is a vast forested area completely surrounding the Pena Palace, spreading for over 200 hectares of uneven terrain. There was a light drizzle as we headed down the hill and we didn't have time to wander through much of the garden areas, but what we did pass was very lush. We then had a short photo stop overlooking Guincho Beach, where the powerful Atlantic waves meet golden sands. On the hill overlooking the beach where we had stopped, is a very flash hotel where the restaurant has a Michelin star. No idea how much it costs to stay here but it is very, very nice!

Time for lunch so we now head to Cascais, which is heaving with people. We spot a little restaurant sign offering pizza and that's where we head. It is upstairs and a bit quirky but the garlic bread and 4 seasons pizza was excellent. Did I mention that we also had a bottle of Rose? Still had time for a nice walk around and then back on the van again for our drive back to Lisbon.

We headed back to our hotel via the mini mart where we purchased a bottle of wine and chips which was going to be our supper tonight. We were both totally bushed so even though it wasn't much after 5, we had showers, got into our jammies and got into bed. About 7ish we attempted to open the wine with my swiss army knife corkscrew. What a palaver. We eventually totally demolished the cork, chipping a bit of the top of the bottle in the process, but we got that damn cork out. Deciding that no glass had gotten into the wine, we then both drank the wine, deeming it 'okay'. That's when the chippies came out and we drank wine and ate chips til lights out! And for those doubting our commitment to good eating, we justified our supper choice to be vegetarian - potatos (vegetables) and grapes (fruit that happened to be turned into wine).