Sintra

About thirty minutes from Lisbon lies the city of Sintra. The city of Sintra is home to several palaces such as the Quinta da Regaleira, Pena Palace, Palace of Monserrate, and Sintra National Palace. We didn't have time for all four so I chose to do the two grandest palaces - Pena Palace and Palace of Monserrate.

We started by driving to the old center of Sintra. The city center was very crowded and cramped. Busses, tuk tuks, smaller antique cars, and pedestrians all crowded the little one way cobblestone streets. There were many cafes and we stopped by one for our pastel de natas of the day and other pastries. Babbaloo and I could not stop joking about how Alex had given us a ration of ⅓ of a croissant to last the whole day.

Getting to Pena palace was rather difficult as it is situated high on a hill and the guides had informed us that there was no parking. I feel like they definitely lied to us since I fact checked them on Google and we did pass by a couple of lots on the way up. Since we couldn’t drive, the other options were to take a guide or the public bus, all of which were equally expensive at 15 euros per person. Therefore in true Alex fashion, we took the cheapest option and walked uphill for about 45 minutes.

The Pena Palace was very brightly colored. The bright yellow and red stood out against the blue sky. There was even one wall of the castle covered in the Portuguese azulejos. The castle was originally built in the Middle Ages but has since been restored several times. I had never seen a castle as brightly colored and we started off by just doing a walk-around of the palace grounds. At one point in the palace there is a lookout point where you can see all of Sintra below and the ocean on the horizon.

The interior of the palace took us through several rooms - dressing rooms, bedrooms, kitchen, and dining halls. Some of the rooms were more lavish than others but overall there was not too much decoration given that it has been restored so many times.

Following the palace we stopped to get a bite at a cafe at the bottom of the hill. Alex and I both ordered a cod with potato and it was very good!

The next palace we visited was the Palace of Monserrate. I knew I would love this palace as it was modeled using elements of Moorish architecture. The palace was small but full of intricate carvings on the walls. Iconic of the Moorish style were the hallways of arches with filigree work detailed on them. My favorite room was a large circular room where the ceiling was heavily decorated in what looked like a large floral pattern and a grand piano sat in the middle. In addition to the palace, there were huge gardens spread out throughout the property. There were some nice flowers but it was more wild than neatly manicured palace gardens.