Saturday: Sintra

When I woke up, I showered and chose new clothes today. I was still cold, but not as mentally bothered by it. I took the subway to the usual square and had another carmel muffin and a pear nectar for breakfast from Jeronymo again. Then I looked for the Rossio Estacio. When I tried to cross the street, a man yelled at me. The light’s green, sir! Turns out he was filming an Audi driving down the street. I tried to ask if it was a movie or a commercial, but he didn’t answer.
I saw a sign saying the train left in 6 minutes and hustled to the top of the stairs to find a HUGE line. I figured I’d get the neeeext next one.












I read my book on the train and was almost surprised when we arrived in Sintra (a UNESCO site). I got out with many other tourists. We all stood around and looked in different directions. Uhhh, now what. I followed the sign that said historic center (but not with those letters). It took me through a small section of town and out the other side. I went around a valley full of lush green things and to the far side where I could see a little colorful town. I saw a bus go by and knew I was really supposed to be on it, but had to keep walking.






















I arrived at the little town and found the office with a big “i” on the door and went inside. They gave me a map which was clearly printed out of someone’s basic printer and a bus schedule. I went outside and waited on the bus, seeing it should come at any moment!


















I went to the Castelo dos Mouros first. It's from the 9th century during the Arab occupation. It was an observation post for monitoring the coast line. The bus driver held up a doublesided sheet of paper. One side said this was the castle stop and the other side said the NEXT stop was for the palace. I thought it was funny—clearly meant to save him from having to speak English to too many tourists.

















It was a bit of a walk out to the castle through the woods and down a hill (which meant I’d have to come back up!). The first thing you come to is some old storage towers. Then there’s a tower with a skull and crossbones. Cool! Then the remains of a chapel.

















THEN you get to the real deal. The castle was amazing. Its old rocks seemed very sturdy and I loved the way it looped over the hills. My favorite part was the “traitor door” which was where the people were meant to escape if they couldn’t hold off the enemy, but where sometimes the enemy entered through (if a traitor opened the door).

























I climbed up to the tippy top peak of the thing. I had a guy take my picture and in his attempt at English, he said “Maybe you should take one of me as well” then readjusted to could.


















On the way down, there was a plaque to say that they burned a light every year to remind the nearby town that they were protecting them. I’ve noticed a trend that castle means ruins and rocks and palace means somewhere I’d like to live.
I got back on the bus and took it up to the Palacio de Pena. It's a 19th century Portugese Romantic building. It's the most important of the UNESCO sites, its brochure says.

























From the outside, it was absolute insanity. It had crazy colors that were unreal. It had lots of funny shapes flopped on over here and over there. Inside was also insane. Every room was completely unique and decorated to the max. It made me want to redecorate my own walls with plaster, or overlayed ribbons, or tiles or cover them in fabric. They were all SO beautiful! There were themed rooms for different countries which were very intriguing. There were really nice rooms for the assistants. I was envious! The palace had a church inside, complete with choir and alter. I wandered through the whole thing and then got very hungry. I got chips in the cafeteria, hoping to hold out for 3:30-“lunch” at a restaurant in town.
I had to look at the patio with arches first though. I also so some French ladies I’d been beside all day start the “wall walk” and followed. It was a little passageway around the outside of the building. It was FREEZING and I couldn’t wait to get on the bus to get to the bus by the time I finished skirting the building. I decided to skip the gardens.



















I went back down the hill to a restaurant I’d eyed earlier, stressing over whether to try to get to the convent or to see the Palacio de Sintra here in town. I had quiche Lorraine for lunch (which wasn’t very good) and found there wasn’t time for a long bus ride to the convent. There, decision made.
The palace was formerly a royal residence. It has Manueline, Moorish, Gothic and Renaissance architecture.














I went to the palace gardens first because they were going to close first. They had a nice view of the rest of the city and carefully groomed hedges. There was also a cool fountain with a big lion on it.






























There was a broken down building next to the garden that I really liked.















Then I went over to the palace, with it’s sign that the tour involved 100 steps. It also had some of the oldest Portugese tiles and apparently lots of good stuff. Count me in! AND I was allowed to take pictures wherever I wanted! The WOW of the thing was the family crest room. Its ceilings and walls were covered in pictures. The ceiling was painted and the walls had painted tiles. I also saw the royal quarters and several socializing rooms. Ntoher main event was the kitchen. Its chimneys were HUGE cylindars, visible from far away. This palace also had a chapel inside. I suppose if you live in a palace you don’t really want to leave… ever.


























I walked around town, documenting the various shapes and colors of the houses. There were a few other tourists wandering as well, but not many.


























I got a donut to go and went to the bus stop just as it started to rain.
I got on the train and was engulfed in my book again. The train took me to the wrong station! I wasn’t pleased. I took the subway to the correct one and then went to the Starbucks mall. On the way, I saw a contest for Alice in Wonderland costumes—related to the new movie coming out. It was a little bizarre.












I went to the food court. They had eggy stuff, Brazilian, MacDonald’s, sandwiches, and pasta. I went for the Italian food because I could figure out what it was. Portuguese is hardest menu to guess at, although I read that Portuguese is the 3rd most commonly spoken European language.
I went to the bathroom and saw that my nose was red and shiny like Rudolph. I must have gotten a bit wind-whipped during the day.
I went home to the hostal and asked about their wifi. They DID have it but were almost reluctant to give me the code. Isn’t’ the computer working? Yes, but I want to use my OWN. The service came and went, but I was glad to be able to access my picture and the internet simultaneously. Outside, I could hear scary yelling coming from the street. I locked all 3 of my locks. It’s like New York in this room! I cringed and thought, I’ve almost survived this hostel!