Following a 45 minute train ride, we arrived in Sintra and began about 6 hours of walking and climbing.
One of the first things we saw was the Town Hall. We knew we were in for a great day of amazing architecture.
We stopped first at Quinta da Regaleira, the summer residence of the Carvahlo Montiero family.
A large castle built in hundreds of acres of mountainside with gardens, fountains, caves, ponds, a small chapel, towers and a huge house.
Most ceilings in the castle were hand carved wood!
The original portion of the home was started in the late 1600’s and continued to grow and change over the years.
The Montiero family began a major transformation of the grounds in the 1800’s. It is a museum today and quite an experience.
Next to the Castelo Mouros, the Moorish Castle. Built higher on the mountain beginning in the 800’s by the Moors. Was conquered and taken by the Portuguese in 1147. It covers a large area of the Sintra mountains and has many walls and turrets with beautiful views and lots of climbing.
Finally, at the top of the hill, the Palacio de Pena.
A very beautiful castle and palace began in the late 1100’s. This one we called Cinderellas castle and when you see the pictures, you’ll know why.
It was a residence of royalty until the late 1800’s and was eventually converted into a museum. We have lots of photos of the outside but inside picture taking was prohibited.
This was definitely a calf workout day! Steps, hills, staircases and roads. We were wishing we had pedometers just to know how far we walked today.
At the end of the day, we passed by Pizza Hut and decided to do pizza and a movie. We got pizza and bread sticks, really quite good for foreign, and returned to our room watch Star Wars on the “Big Screen” …. my laptop. ;)
We can’t believe we only have one more day. Tomorrow it’s Nacoes, Alfama again for shopping and the Fado club.
Friday…..
Well, last day in Portugal. What a week it’s been! We climbed aboard the metro again this morning and headed East to Parque Nacoes. (neh-soysh…more or less). There we visited the National Aquarium
rode the Teleferico, a gondola sky ride
had lunch along the water front
And discovered we have a famous musical relative in Portugal.....
We returned to Alfama and did some walking and shopping, then one last stop at FinziContini for gelato.
We made a trip to our room to clean up a little and to be sure we had everything packed for Saturday’s departure. We returned to Alfama and dinner at Clube de Fado.
Fado clubs and Fado music are very traditional Portuguese and Portuguese music. The club is in a very old part of town with lots of atmosphere. It required reservations some days in advance as seating was very limited. Tables were set very close and usually sat numerous people from multiple parties. We were next to an older couple from Wisconsin who were visiting Portugal, Spain and Morroco. During dinner, the lights would dim and two or three guitarists and a singer would come to the front of the dining area. They were right next to our table! The first group included a girl who sang 5 Portuguese songs, followed shortly by another group with a man who sang. Chris tried Bacalhau, a distinctly Portuguese dish consisting of dried salted cod and potatoes.
Definitely an acquired taste….. I had Monk fish and prawns. Tyler and Annette had the peppered steak and Jena had a pork shish ka bob.
We knew going in that it was going to be an expensive meal. We saved specifically for that. When all was said and done, following the cover charge, the entertainment charge and dinner for evveryone, we were over $200! Ouch!
We made it back to our room at about 11:00 pm. We were really glad we had packed earlier as we knew morning would come very fast! We planned to leave at 7:00 am to be sure to get to the airport, through security and to our gate in plenty of time, so the alarm was set for 5:50 am.
Saturday morning.
I dragged myself out of bed to go to the bathroom, thinking it was maybe 4:30 or 5:00, taking my phone with me to check the time. When I got to the bathroom, I realized my alarm had not gone off and it was 6:35 am. The next 25 minutes were rather hectic as we bypassed showers and finalized our packing to be down to the lobby by 7:00.
Taxi’s were called and we were on our way to the airport by 7:10. After a short taxi ride, we arrived and headed into the terminal. We realized that the airport was MUCH larger than we thought it was when we arrived in Portugal. On arrival last Sunday, we were in a dark, dingy part of the airport and waited in a side wing for our contact and ride. When we got here this morning, we could tell that was only a small part of the airport as we passed through a huge terminal. Once we finally figured out where our terminal was, we got through check in and headed for security. We threw away our bottles of water as we proceeded through the long line at security, only to find they weren’t making anyone throw them away to go through security.
As is usually the case, it was hurry up and wait once we arrived at our gate. However, we would rather be early and wait than be late for an international flight. So here we sit, waiting to board the plane that will end our wonderful trip to Portugal.
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