Oct 31, 2012 - Sintra and Cascais

Today we took a tour to several towns outside Lisbon that are famous in their own right. First stop Sintra a small but beautiful town set amongst the hills that surround the Pena Palace. This Palace set high atop a hill is right out of Disney world, although it was built by the German born prince Ferdinand (Cousin of “mad” King Ludwig of Disneyesque Neuschwanstein Castle fame) The castle is a mixture of Moorish,Gothic,Renaissance and Portuguese architectural styles. Built around 1800, it is hard to take seriously but it was home to the...

Nov 2, 2011 - Sintra

This was my day for driving so it was a bit of an adventure...Cam was still a bit worse for wear from last nights dinner. We made our way to Sintra which was absolutely spectacular. Nestled into the side of the mountains this quaint town was a very popular destination for the tourists. Luckily we arrived early and had a bit of a look around before all of the tourist buses arrived..... We had the best portugese tart and coffee in this little coffee shop on the main road before we explored the many laneways tasting port as we went along....

May 17, 2011 - Portugal - Sintra and the Algarve

After leaving Lisbon, we headed west along the Atlantic coast to toward the area of Sintra. Along the way, we spent a night in a campground in Guincho, as small town near a beach on the Atlantic coast. We arrived in the evening, so we only had a time to take a look at the beach and have a quick meal in the campground restaurant. The next morning we bravely set out to climb the twisting roads in our camping car. Sintra is a medieval town that rambles up and down steep hillsides. It was for many years a favorite haunt of Portuguese royalty...

Nov 5, 2010 - Sintra-mendous

I threw down some dollar dollar bills today, but I think it was worth it. What did I get out of my 75 euro spend? A guided tour to the best spots in Sintra, entry into the sights for the day, 2 bottles of port, a stop at the western most point in Europe and some late afternoon dessert. The highlights of the day were as follows: 1) Being forced to delete an illegally taken picture of a room inside the Palace of Pena 2) Crafting my own mini port tasting tour in central Sintra (which included 6 unique and totally free samples) as part of the...

Oct 17, 2010 - Sintra

@@@@@@@ Background Sintra is a must-do day trip from Lisbon, but we visited and stayed the night after finishing our swing through the Algarve region of southern Portugal. There is evidence of the Celts worshipping their moon gods in the verdant hills north of Lisbon and in the 9th century, the Moors built a castle atop a 412m hill where they could survey the entrance to the Rio Tejo and protect their interests from invaders. The advantage of height wasn’t lost on the nobility of Portugal either. When the rabble sweltered in the heat and...

Aug 25, 2010 - Sintra Portugal

The temperature has dropped to a mere 27 degrees celsius and we are feeling chilled. It was not helped by the fact that when we arrived in Sintra it was raining a fine misty rain. Our hotel left a lot to be desired with peeling paintwork, plaster falling off the walls and black mould growing on the window and door frames. It was also very dark and our supposed 'garden view' was a high hedge about 2 feet from the window. You can't win them all I guess! However the next day the sun came out and we did a huge (7 hour) walking tour of the...

Aug 13, 2010 - Sintra

I spent the day in Sintra yesterday, a small town about 20 min. north of Lisbon by train. It was the home of the last Portuguese king, and a lot of wealthy people built large, elaborate mansions nearby. Many describe this place as magical, with a fairy tale quality. It was a bit touristy to me, but I did enjoy it. It's a perfect day trip out of Lisbon. There is a large, rather boring palace in the main town, and another smaller palace built on a hilltop called the Pena Palace, which is fairly new as far as palaces go, and rather small. It...

May 27, 2010 - Sintra, Portugal

Thursday 27th fine and cloudy – 22 Stopped at the Senhor Jesus da Pedra Sanctuary. (our lord jesus of the stone sanctuary . Fab Church started in 1740 and built in a hexagon. Stopped for coffee and custard tart then on to Torres Vedras for lunch and a walk around. Got to our 2 brm apartment via the ocean road. Did washing then out in the car to the shop for supplies then home to relax. Had soup and crackers for tea. Friday 28th Fine and cloudy – 22 Drove to Sintra and on arrival had coffee and custard tart. Walked around the town centre and...

Jun 15, 2009 - Sintra

A much brighter start to the day, I am sleeping so heavy, and last night almost nine hours solid, which is not like me at all. I make a call to the bank which highlighted an error on their part in getting a new card to me, and I am promised Tuesday, we shall see. I have spoken with the hotel, and they are aware of the situation. So today I travelled to the historic city of Sintra, is both a town and a municipality in Portugal, located in the Grande Lisboa sub region and the Lisbon Region. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account...

May 19, 2008 - Sintra

Well, Sintra is kind of a two part entry. It is actually just a short train ride outside of Lisbon, but deserves it´s own mention. We went there twice. The description of Sintra was, and I quote Älice and Wonderland meets Lord of the Rings¨. So you can imagine we just had to check out, despite the fact that Paige despises all things regarding hobbits or Gandolf (the white). Anywho. It was so beautiful. It is hilly, and green (almost tropical, but I´ll get to that in a minute) with palaces and buildings that look like they popped right out...

Sep 29, 2007 - Sintra and last days in Lisbon

I am a bit of a lost soul after saying goodbye to my conference buddies and finding myself alone one again in Lisbon. Worse, my chest infection is well settled in and I am coughing like a 95 year old asbestos miner. Oh well GO the antibiotics. I have a "rest" day in Lisbon, and post my parcels back to Australia (at extreme cost because, like Australia they no longer have sea mail here). I do some planning, make some accomodation bookings and update the website. Next day I am still pretty flat but I am a dedicated traveller so head off into...

Jul 18, 2007 - Sleepy Sintra

It was such a nice sleep because the temperature made it so we could stay in our sleeping bags the whole night! It was so awesome! We kinda slept in. We didn't get going until almost noon. When we actually got out of the tent we said good morning to our Aussie neighbor! He looked at his watch and told us "well you have 20 minutes left!" On the way to the bus stop we noticed that all the ants were gone. As well as the treats that we had left them. There were just a couple HUGE battle ants guarding the outside of the hole. We hopped on a bus...