Sintra, Portugal 7 June 2016

Out plan today was to have a day out of Lisbon to Sintra - a UNESCO world heritage site just a train ride from Lisbon out in the countryside.

We walked down the Lisbon hills to the Rossi train station passing more spectacular wall art, with graffiti.

Even though it was relatively early - around 8am - it was already hot.  We just missed this train!

Sintra has the reputation as the Portugese Riviera.  It's cooler climate enticed the nobility and royalty to build fantastical castles and palaces with gorgeous decorative gardens.  There are more than 10 national monuments to be visited.  From experience, it's almost, no not almost, completely impossible to see that many in any one day.  We did three and the last part of the trip ended up just being a cursory look-see.  It was a really hot day, way over 30 degrees.  You can walk, but there are buses laid on - we were to be very grateful for those buses!  You fought for your space and a seat was an added bonus.  It was also a very pricy day out.

First up for us was the National Palace of Pena - a romanticist castle - think Disney meets Portugal. Or perhaps this is where Disney found inspiration, considering the castle was built in the middle ages (but only restored in this style in the 1800's after the great earthquake of 1755).

The castle is right on top of a hill with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside.

The inside is in wonderful condition, ornate and embellished.

By this time it was lunchtime - beer and duck pie - pretty good too in a fast food kind of way.

We had a very brief look around the gardens on our way down the mountain to the Moorish Castle - Castelo dos Mouros.

The castle was built in the 8th and 9th centuries by the Moors to guard the town of Sintra but fell into disrepair after the Christian conquest of Portugal.  It is set in lush green forests and offers cool respite from the blazing sun. Everything is in complete contrast to the Palace of Pena and wonderfully attractive for all that.

Back on to the bus and down to Sintra - ice cream was necessary.  Then another bus ride out to the Palace of Monserrate set in 33 hectares of landscape gardens.

This is the Boulder House which has doors and window shutters made of cork.

The house was renovated in 1856 for the Cook family in a Neo Gothic / Indian / Moorish style - ornate and embellished to the hilt!

The inside - even more so!  Quite beautiful, totally overwhelming.

A relief to be out and know that that was it for the day.

 We could have caught an earlier train but decided to find an outside bar and catch up with ourselves.

 And then, because our feet were still sore, we repeated ourselves in Lisbon.

Sightseeing is all very well and I love to see new places, but it's the time at the end of the day, or even inbetween - museums, marking off destinations and rushing from place to place, when you take time to sit down, have a drink and food, breath and just be there, in a foreign city, and enjoy the experience.