A 45 minute train ride from Lisbon takes you to an enchanted place, Sintra. But first, the morning view from our terrace in Lisbon.
The place is crazy. I mean, this is what you see when you come around the bend on the trail.
- Sintra Castle
Stunning, I expected a Portuguese version of Tinkerbell to fly out and sprinkle fairy port on us. Actually I was hoping for that because I love Port. Once inside, it was very castle like, but the views, spectacular.
- A view from a terrace
- From the Rear Wall (I think)
- Some Local Homes (I’m thinking nobility lived in these)
Once we left the castle, we headed into the gardens. As the story goes, the gardens are a mixture of Mediterranean and Northern European forests, put together as an experiment. The resulting foliage is truly remarkable and the gardens themselves, very peaceful and beautiful. The downside is that one could tell that a despot seems to have put it together. Think, “Carve a stone couch there, and while you are at it, the ducks need houses that are nicer than yours, so build some in the middle of that lake you dig. Oh, and have it done by Wednesday”.
Check these out.
- That is one funky tree
- The White Swans
- And In The Next Pool, The Black Swans
- The Foliage
- One Of The Duck Houses
Finishing up in the garden, we crossed the road and hiked uphill about 2km to Castle Mourous, the old Moorish castle. Pretty spectacular in itself, but not in a good state of repair. Refurbishment is in progress. Still, an imposing structure.
- Mourous
And with that, we were done. Caught the train back to Lisbon, knowing we were on a plane in the morning in our plane, train and automobile run to Toledo. Loved Portugal, and will definitely be back. Way more to see there than one can do in 60 hours.
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What a lovely surprise to see your follow, thank you! I meant to leave a comment earlier about Cintra but got sidetracked(I’m writing this from an airport transit lounge in Manila, en route to Hawaii) Your photos are great and really capture the feeling of the place. I’ve been to Cintra and was enchanted; not just by the splendour of the place but also by those divine custard tarts (pasteis de nata) and the coffee – hope you got a chance to try them too 🙂
We had then at Castle Sao Jorge in Lisbon, washed down with some port and watching a brood of peacocks. I enjoy following blogs that are different and have owners that are not shy about commenting lol. Just going through some of your posts now. Safe travels and pop by anytime.
Thanks John – I love the idea of the custard tarts with a glass of port – very stylish, wish I’d thought of that and scrubbed the coffee idea. I’ll be back for sure to see what you are up too as I’m now following you here, and on twitter. My battery about to die on the laptop… and I’ve still got 5 hrs to wait till the next flight – what a bummer! speak soon, Lottie 🙂
I’ll return the Twitter follow Lottie. Talk soon
Seems like you’re having so much fun!
Maybe to much fun. It was a great trip
(Mr Scott voice) Me thinks the tree is not so funky as the man leaning against it.
Great pics John, beautiful.
And now I want a duck house.
I was, frankly, startled at both the beauty and the despotishness (is that a word) of the place. Literally built as a whim and pretty much used up the royal treasury.
More than one person has told me about the joys of Portugal – a place we haven’t visited. Thanks for the confirmation. Being new … what are you thinking with Genoa?
We are pretty flex on this right now. Lori has cousins in the uk that we see on a regular basis. They suggested it and now we are trying to build a trip around it. Sienna, Milan, Pisa, then maybe Switzerland or Austria, and Bavaria? Been to Florence. The fun is in the planning.
Wonderful … but if in Genoa, don’t forget Cinque Terra!
Absolutely. We did amalfi a couple of years ago along with Rome. Spectacular. Love Italy
Absolutely … Been there several times … actually qualify for dual citizenship … currently considering a trip to visit an aunt and first cousins.
Lori has dual uk. Thinking we should pursue that.
We did a Baltic cruise in this past fall … have you been to that wonderful region?
Not yet. We did a cruise to the Canary Islands and Madeira in October. Quite the experience. Be blogging that in a while.
I look forward to it … if interested … our trip starts here … http://afrankangle.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/on-amsterdam/ ….. there should be a link near the end of each post for the next port.