I ended up spending an entire week in Lisbon. The city is just so relaxed and not too expensive.
Sintra is located just 45 minutes away from Lisbon by train. This area has long been a great day trip for Portuguese royalty and its easy to see why. Palaces, mist-covered forests, and a Moorish castle surround the sleepy village of Sintra.
Sintra lists as a world heritage site thanks to UNESCO. With just a day trip to pack in some of the sites Emily and I had out plates full.
More below!
Emily, a fellow backpacker from Vancouver, joined me for the day and we had a blast. First stop was the wonderful Palacio Nacional Da Pena.
As you can see the colour mixes well with the tormented turrets. The palace is ludicrously magical.
Cubby holes and turrets give you a sense of ownership as the crowds are dispersed. Emily and I had fun claiming different spots to photograph.
As you can see Pena is the highest elevated point for miles. The view is very dramatic.
From Pena you can view the ocean, Sintra town, a Moorish castle, and half a dozen other palaces all equally unique.
Emily thought she would feed the swans by hand, she failed.
Got too love my beard, or as Mark calls it, the Raffi beard. Emily is styling it with some Italian glasses and a killer view of the Atlantic.
Emily and I spent way too long up at Pena so we had just enough time to visit the last couple sites on our agenda, the Moorish castle and the National Palace.
The Castelo Dos Mouros snakes across the mountain peak above Sintra giving you a sharp sense of domination. First built by the Moors this castle fell into Christian hands in the early 12Th century. (That's 1100s Emily, hehe)
The national palaces was great although seeing it after the first two attractions was a little bit underwhelming.
Below are some random shots from Lisbon that we took after the day in Sintra.
The last post was from the furthest point west in Europe. Coast-to-coast for me!
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