Sintra

The alarm went off at 6:15 and we both agreed that we had gotten a better night of sleep. We stopped at a bakery for a croissant on our way to our meeting place in Praça da Figueira square for our tour to the city of Sintra. Our tour guide, Luis, found us relatively quickly and told us we were just waiting on some more people before we headed out. Soon a family of 4 from Canada (parents our age and kids age 20 and 18) joined us. We then drove up the boulevard to pick up one more couple that was from Greece, before we got going with the tour.

The first stop was in the village of Sintra where we saw the National Palace of Sintra (not that particularly beautiful) and went to a bakery called Casa Piriquita for a travesseiro. This is Sintra’s local sweet treat and is a cream-filled, sugar covered pastry made with eggs and almonds. The ones we were served were hot and delicious! I think I liked it better than the pastel de natas. It kind of reminded me of a McDonald’s Apple Pie, but so much better.

We then walked to Quinta da Regaleira (https://www.regaleira.pt/pt/quinta-da-regaleira) which was designed and built during the early 1900’s. The palace, grounds, and gardens were very pretty and interesting . . even in the rain. The most interesting spot on the property is the initiation well, which is like a reverse tower and not a well at all as there is no water at the bottom (except for today because it was raining). It is representative of Dante’s seven circles of hell and ends with a tunnel that exits out back into the light. It is said that this place was used for initiations into the Freemasonary. We tried to imagine what it might be like to traverse the well and tunnels in the dark of night with limited lighting, if any. We really enjoyed our visit here.

Next we got back in the van and drove up to the entrance of the Pena Palace (https://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/parks-monuments/park-and-national-palace-of-pena/). Here we had an hour and a half to explore the grounds. We did not have enough time, nor did our ticket include admittance to the interior of the palace. We enjoyed the uniqueness of the exterior of the palace and took several photos, before we walked back down the hill exiting via the Valley of Lakes, a path that runs alongside five lakes connected by small waterfalls and arranged along a lush and gentle valley. It was a peaceful walk.

Back in the van and we drove to Cabo da Roca which is mainland Europe’s westernmost point. We had enough time to snap a few pictures and look at the view.

We then travelled to the city of Cascais for lunch. Our tour guide took us to a restaurant where we each sat at our own table and ordered off the menu. Tom and I shared a codfish dish and a Portuguese steak (steak with prosciutto on top). I liked the steak more than the cod. After lunch we had time to stroll the streets and grab a gelato. I did a virtual geocache and walked the tiny beach before we meandered back through town and met back up with the group at 4:30.

Cascais was the last stop of the day and we headed back to Lisbon. Luis dropped us off at the hotel where we picked up the Greek couple and we walked back to the square with the Canadian family. They had just spent the past week in the Algarve, which is where we’re heading to next so they were able to give us some recommendations. This was perfect as they had done a kayak tour that they really enjoyed, and we had planning on doing a kayak tour. Tom got the info of the tour company and booked one for us.

We took the Elevador da Gloria funicular back up the hill to the neighborhood in which we are staying (still free with our Yellow Bus tour ticket). It was nice not to have to walk up the huge hill and I was glad we could experience another local mode of transit.

Back at the apartment I did a load of wash as this apartment is our last location with a washing machine. I then sat down to write the blog and rest. It’s Tom’s plan that we head back out at 11:00 to experience the Lisbon night life.

Stats of the Day

Steps: 19,170 as of 8:53p.m.
Geocaches: 3 Virtual
Temperature: 60’s with rain off and on throughout the day