Day 2 - Sintra

We woke for a hotel breakfast at 8am ready for a day of exploring the nearby region of Sintra.

Sintra is an area close to Lisbon with a number of palaces and castles, all in a hilly, wooded environment making the area like something out of a fairytale.

After a short train ride we alighted at Sintra and looked at our options to get to the palaces. We spotted the tourist hop on, hop off buses and jumped on one that did a circuit of 3 of the main areas. We had planned on walking to the famous Pena Palace, as Google said it was only 30 mins away - luckily we got the bus as we discovered later that while it was only 1.3 km from Sintra as the crow flies it would have been a serious hike to get to any off the attractions.

We took the bus to the first stop on the circuit, the historical centre of the village - thinking at the time we could look around and then walk to the Pena Palace. As we walked along we saw a sign for the Quinta da Regaleira. Not knowing exactly what this was but curious we decided that the 5 minute detour was worth the risk. We were pleasantly rewarded for our gamble as the Quinta turned out to be the most amazing Romantic palace, straight out of a fairytale.

The Quinta was the summer residence of the local aristocracy and is a beautiful filigree building set in beautiful wooded ground with a great many sculptures and man-made structures such as towers, follies, gates and grottoes. We spent a good few hours exploring the ground including the amazing abandoned well which linked up with two grottoes via underground tunnels. There were so many nooks and crannies to this magnificent garden we could have spent all day exploring.

However, time was not on our side so we decided to return to the main house and look inside before moving on to see some other attractions in the area. The inside of the mansion was just as beautiful as the grounds with delicate stonework, paintings and carvings. We sat for a moment listening to some Chamber music being played inside before climbing to see the view from the roof, where we could see all the surrounding area, including the imposing Moorish Castle looking down on is from the mountain top.

We decided to leave the Quinta and make out way to the Moorish Castle and the Pena Palace. It was a very warm day so we waited for the next circuit bus to go to the castle.

We decided that we had made the right decision to take the bus instead of walking as we stated to snake up the mountainside, watching other foolish tourists walking up and down the step chicanes.

We got off at the Moorish Castle stop but found that the castle was still a fair walk away so we decided to get back on board the next bus and make our way to Pena. When we got off we had to walk up some pretty steep forest roads to get to the main entrance, but in 10 mins were standing under the imposing walls of the hybrid European / Moorish fortress. The gaudy colours and heavy buttressed walls were a world away from the delicate carvings of the Quinta. We toured through the surprisingly small palace looking at the rooms and original furniture before stopping for a drink and something to eat at a rooftop cafe.

We had a quick walk along the terraces which had a great view of the Moorish Castle before deciding that it was time to leave so that we could get home in time to meet up with our new tour. We walked along the old town and enjoyed a mojito sorbet along the way. The train ride home started off nice and pleasant until a 20+ year African-Portuguese man got on with his rap music blaring out of his phone. Mick was unsure as to whether he (a) wanted to give the other passengers a cultural experience by exposing them to alternative music or (b) he was just a selfish prick. Turns out a fellow passenger thought (b) and confronted him, which scared the bejezzes out of Mick! The guy didn't turn down his music but luckily they all got off the train very soon after.

Before meeting up with our tour group for the first time we had some well earned happy hour mojitos and sangria. As we walked to the introduction meeting we were feeling rather tipsy. Our plan to making a positive first impression on our fellow travellers was not looking too good. Our plan of attack was to just say nothing and just smile and nod at people!

For dinner we went to Bairro Alto again with Arielle and her new room mate Julia. Julia is a fellow Aussie with a similar sense of humour. Julia also turned up to our introduction meeting drunk - this new friendship is gonna a last! At dinner the rather old and rather rotund female proprietor sang a few Fado songs (Portuguese folk music). She then tried spruiking her CDs, it took awhile to work out that it was her CD as the lady on the cover  looked 30 years younger and 60kgs lighter!

We didn't stay out wandering the streets of Bairro Alto with the 1 euro drinks in plastic cups as we had a busy day the next day starting with a city walk. So with very sore legs and feet we went to bed for some well earned rest.