Sintra Day Trip

On day two of our Portuguese adventure, we fought jet lag & hopped an early train to Sintra. Early is critical to an enjoyable day in Sintra. By the time we left the little town, it was overflowing with tourists. I was a bit conflicted on whether to go to Sintra. Apparently from a design aesthetic, Palacio Nacional de Pena is a hot mess. 

To our untrained eyes, it was just a pretty castle. Sintra was the most traditional European city that we visited on our trip and for that reason alone, I am happy we took the time to visit. The city is in the mountains and we were happy to escape the Lisbon heat.

From the train, we took a bus to the entrance to the palace. You can either take a shuttle to the castle or walk through the gardens to the top.

I really fell in love with Moorish architecture on our trip to Spain. I was glad to see the Moorish influence here as well.

Because of our early arrival, we were able to walk leisurely through the palace without swarms of people pushing us through. While the palace was originally constructed in the late 1400's, it was devastated by the 1755 earthquake. 

In the 1850's, the palace was rebuilt and it was used through the late 1800's. Thus, this castle is a bit more updated than most that I have seen.

The biggest misstep I made on this trip was to mistake the Pena Forest, adjacent to the palace, with Quinta da Regaleria.  My only comfort is that we loved Portugal so much that I know we will make another trip to the country.

The tranquility of the gardens was magical. It is worth the time if the weather cooperates.

Our next stop was the Moors' Castle. Really, it is a reconstructed wall.  There isn't much of the castle left (unless I missed that too).

But, it was romantic imagining all the fairy tale happenings inside these walls and we had a great panoramic view of the surrounding towns.

The stairs were steep, but it was worth it.

After our climb, we took the bus back into town. We grabbed lunch, had our first vinho verde, found a cork purse for my mother and bought some ginjinha to bring home to share with friends. We were still tired from the time change so we were ready to take the train back to Lisbon by early afternoon. It was a perfect first full day in Portgual!