Sintra

It’s Monday, we’re awake early. Tired but the habit of waking up early is still there. Down for breakfast which was very nice and quite large for a European breakfast. They had scrambled eggs, cereals, pastries and the famous custard tart. After coffee and feeling full, we headed to this hotel’s sister property to meet Tom and Martha Kilkenny. Tom and Martha live in Mendocino, California and Martha also participated in the CC forum. We had decided the 4 of us would take the train to Sintra for a day trip from Lisboa.


So after our stop of Starbucks - yes they’re everywhere - we headed for the train station and had no trouble getting our round-trip tickets for the train to Sintra. The ride was about 30 minutes and we couldn’t get lost because it was the last stop. At the train station, we caught Bus #434 (thank you Rick Steves) and took it up the long hill to the Pena Palace - Palacio de Pena. The palace was the home of 19th Century King Ferdinand. He hired a German architect to build a fantasy castle and it is certainly and interesting building. It has Gothic towers, Renaissance domes and is very opulent. We all got audio guides to use while went through the palace. We spent almost 3 hours there looking at the rooms all furnished very over the top and we “walked the wall” which had some beautiful views of the valley. We had brief views because the weather had moved in and it was misty. On the other hand, at least it was cooler.

From the palace we went to the Moorish Castle. The castle is really nothing more than ruins, but the ruins are over 1,000 years old. We climbed up to the Castle Keep and decided that was enough climbing; time for our late lunch.

After taking Bus 434 back down the hill, we ended up eating at Apeadiro Restaurante which was recommended in the Rick Steves’ Portugal Guide. The food was pretty good (I had codfish) and the beer and wine was great. The owner got a kick out of seeing the name of the place in the guide and had to take the guide around to all of the staff and show them. We talked and talked and then decided we better head back to Lisboa. By then, it was after 3:30 p.m.!

Walking into the train station in Sintra there was a train there waiting so Martha and I headed right own. Well Hank and Tom were lagging behind when all of a sudden the doors starting closing! Martha and I are trying to hold open the doors - Hank is trying to squeeze himself in and makes it and then Tom is trying to get on. Those doors are still closing!! By now of course, everyone is looking at us like we’re nuts. Martha is pulling, Tom is trying to squeeze and finally a guy from the platform comes up behind Tom and also helps to open the doors just wide enough so the rest of him can get in just as the train takes off! We ended up laughing and knew that would be one of the Sintra memories!

Back in Lisboa we stopped and Hank and I shared a glass of Ginjinha which is a cherry port made in Lisboa and one of the “must try” things to do. We said it reminded us of Robitussen cough syrup. But hey, you have to try it. We parted from Martha and Tom and decided because we had lunch so late, we really didn’t want a large dinner. Instead we just opted for a glass of wine in the bar and had some nuts before crashing in bed!