minutes from Lisbon via train. Supposedly Portugal's aristocracy often
vacation here. We woke up around 8:30 because we wanted to spend the
morning on one of Sintra's beaches. We took a train to Sintra and then
a pretty crazy bus to the beach Prais das Majas. It was pretty windy
on the beach and we could tell that a lot of surfers probably came
here because the waves were so big. On the one side of the beach were
huge cliffs which we walked to. We only stayed a little over an hour
at the beach since it was cold because of the wind. We caught the bus
into town and had lunch at this place Tirol where we each tried some
traditional Portguese soup, I had cabbage, potato and carrot soup, and
Kevin had garlic, bread and chicken broth soup. They were both so good
and with soup two sandwiches drinks and sides lunch was only $10 which
is amazing.
After lunch we walked to the National Palace which dates back to the
15th century making it the oldest surviving palace in Portugal. The
palace was pretty small with not that much to see. It's funny because
the two chimneys are said to look like Madonna's bra from back in the
1980's.
We took a bus uphill to visit the Pema Palace which was amazing. If
you ever see a picture of Sintra it is most likely of this multi-
colored palace. The palace was built by Kimg Ferdinand from 1840 to
1885. I really liked this palace because all of the rooms we went into
were filled with cool pictures, furniture, great views etc. It really
felt like it was lived in and not as if the museum just placed objects
there that were not original. The palace sits high above the city so
there were fresh views of two castles and the National Palace. I
think this palace was my favorite attraction if the trip.
Lastly we headed to the Moorish castle which is 1000 years old. The
remains of the castle are scattered around through a huge forest. The
castle was built by the Moors but takem by Christian force in 1147. We
walked through some of the remains; we were way too tired to walk
through the whole castle which winded around the entire top of the
hill it seemed.
When we finally got back to the hotel we showered and relaxed for a
little bit. For dinner we went to a restaurant that both of our books
suggested. The restaurant, Casa do Alentejo, is a Neo-Moorish former
palace which serves simple Alentejan food. The room we were in had
walls filled with traditional Portuguese tiles. The food was really
good too. I ordered salmon with potato, carrots, zucchini and
mushrooms while Kev got pork in a spicy sauce with clams and potatoes.
We also ordered a bottle of vinho verde or green wine and tried there
version of chocolate mouse which Kevin said tasted like a cadbury
creme egg. I think we both agree that we enjoy Portguese food better
than Spanish food. After dinner we went back to our hotel and pretty
much passed out from our long day.
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