Friday 26th June 2009: A day trip to Sintra

Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Lord Byron described it as a "glorious eden", so we thought it might be worth a day trip...We caught the train out to Sintra and then hopped on a bus to the "old town" where we stopped off for a cappuccino and pastelaria de nata in the little cafe down the alley on the right in this photo.



Suitably fortified, we began our climb up to the Moorish Castle overlooking the town.



It was a long hard slog up the back streets, following the signs to "Castelo dos Mouros" until we took a turn off the roads and on to a woodland footpath that zig-zagged it's way up the hill to the castle. We stopped off to "enjoy the view" at regular intervals to get our breath back due to the heat. The climb was worth it. The castle occupies the hill top overlooking the town and you can see for miles around.

Walking the walls, we enjoyed views down to the town of Sintra and the various Palaces of the former Kings of Portugal.




From the top of the highest tower, you could see one of the Pena Palace and look back to Lisbon and the Ponte 25 De Abril over the Rio Tejo.



Having walked the walls of the castle, we headed back down the hill into the narrow winding streets of the old town, stopping off for sandwiches and cold drinks in a small corner cafe (up this street and turn right).



We stopped off in the post office on our way to the bus stop to send the traditional post cards home and to people at work. Our bus back to the railway station took us some very steep roads and at one point the driver had to manage a three point turn on a hairpin bend. He looked calm and at ease as he probably did it every trip but a lot of the passengers were nervous. One of the stops on our trip was a back gate into the castle which would have saved us half the climb if only we had known. Oh how we laughed...

Once back into Sintra "new town" by the railway station, we took a stroll down to the Modern Art Museum but it was closed for a change of exhibition. So I had to make do with taking pictures of the couple of bits of sculpture in the forecourt.



Having been thwarted by the closed museum, we sat down in the shade outside a cafe in the 30C heat and introduced the waiter to the concept of the coke float. We have also done this in Croatia & Greece and often struggled to get the idea over. It provides us with a treat and the waiters with something to laugh at (crazy Brits put a lump of ice cream in a tall glass of coke that then foams up and they eat it with a spoon until it turns into a creamy fizzy slop that they then drink through a straw!)

We made it back to the railways station just as the train was about to leave and were soon back in Lisbon. We stopped off at the Swiss cafe on Rossio Square for our tea. Sonia enjoyed her roast chicken and I my platter of mixed meats and pickles (including pickled carrot). These were washed down with glasses of wine and then the traditional pot of tea before we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest.