Gorgeous day dawns aboard the NCL Sun. The sunrise as we sail into Lisbon was breathtaking – skies perfectly clear and the temperature is perfect as well – probably mid-60’s. Our game plan for today is to catch the hop on hop off bus and just cruise around Lisbon. But as we sail in past the bridge – and past the pier at which we thought we’d be docking, our plans take a rapid change. We actually docked at the pier closest to the main square area of Lisbon’s downtown. Which means it’s an easy walk to the train station where we can catch the train to Sintra. Yay!
We’re off the ship first thing and heading to Rossio station, an easy 20 minute walk from the ship. We’ve studied Rick Steve’s instructions, so we know to go to the ticket window on the track level to buy our tickets – 8.80 Euro’s later and we manage to just catch the 8:51 train to Sintra. Good timing!
The trains are fast and efficient, hurtling you through the suburbs of Lisbon and up into the hillsides of Sintra. 35 minutes door to door – and we emerge into the cool sunshine of the hill country. A 10 minute walk along a winding road with the most bizarrely interesting statues (none of which we managed to capture in photos – it’s still m0rning!) and we are in the center of Sintra, the village where kings and aristocracy took refuge in the summer. It’s a very small little village – over run at this time in the morning with tour buses and tourists. The main attraction in the center is the National Palace – the oldest surviving royal palace in Portugal.
We reconnoitered at the “Parisian Café” on the main square facing the National Palace. Two semi-decent cappuccinos later, after reading about the Palace, and surveying the 100’s of tourists traipsing up the stairs to gain entry – we decide to blow off the National Palace in favor of the Pena Palace and Moorish Castle ruins further up the hillside.
Now, I know you’ll all be in for a shock here – so please – make sure you are sitting down – but we decide to forgo the hour-long steep, uphill hike to the Pena Palace (I know, how could we be so un-athletic?) and instead shell out a very worthwhile 5 euros each for the scenic bus that makes a loop around all the palaces, castles and train station. Timing works for us again as we run for the bus but get there just as they say no more passengers. It’s packed to the gills – but as the first bus leaves, the next bus pulls right up – and there’s hardly anyone on it. Perfect!
Ten minutes of winding narrow switchbacks, up over the lush forest, as we catch glimpses of huge palatial looking houses nestled in the trees, and we arrive at Pena Palace. We can just see the turrets peaking out of the trees way up above us. Tickets purchased, we hop the extra cost (2 Euros – again worth it – and again – yeah – we’re being SOOOOO lazy!) shuttle that takes us up the yet again winding steep uphill road to the Palace.
Here the fantasy begins. This place is just amazingly over the top (we could only take pix of the outside – which we’ll post later). With all the different styles of architecture (Gothic, Renaissance, Moorish, and more I’d never recognize), the different pastel colors and carvings – it’s almost like a Disney creation up here on top of the hill. There are amazing features, like the bizarre gargoyle type evil man staring down at you over the entrance the to queen’s terrace. It’s just amazing – and this is the outside!
Inside is just as incredible! Virtually every room has a different theme. There is the Arabian room, the Indian room, Moorish room, etc. And they all have different decoration and furniture styles from those cultures. The bedrooms also have different themes – but more in line with the era the palace was built. The Queen’s room has dark colors, but beautiful carved rose/flower embellishments on the walls. The ladies in waiting room has garlands of flowers in bas relief. The King’s bedroom has ornate ceiling carvings – it’s all just too much to take in. And since we can’t take any pictures, it’s also hard to remember all the details of every room. It was just really incredible!
After leaving the palace, we take a bunch of photos from the terraces, where you can see we’re actually above the clouds here. Cool. Then we set off to hike down through the park that surrounds the palace (70 or 80 acres of park) to get to the Moorish Castle ruins. It’s beautifully peaceful and cool in the park – and the entire walk is downhill which really helps! On the way, we pass along a series of small lakes with huge Koi fish and an adorable duck “house” in the shape of a castle turret.
We exit the park and walk 250m uphill to the Moorish castle ruins entrance. Then we walk another 200m, again uphill to the ruins. The ruins are about a thousand years old, and perched on the side of the mountain below Pena Palace (which you can see way up above on the top of the hill – which I guess would really be considered a mountain from the elevation!). It’s just gorgeous up here – even if it’s now starting to get hot and we’re doing a lot of stair and hill climbing! But the photos are worth it, and even though there are a lot of people up on the ruins and climbing the remaining castle walls, it’s still fairly peaceful and not the mad house of the main village.
After exhausting our picture taking, we hike back to the road for the loop bus to take us to the train station. The bus takes a while to come (thankfully we have time) but we end up with a seat after the first stop and head down to the train station. Along the way, we pick up the husband and wife part of the band we like – and so we all hang together on the way back down into Lisbon.
Back in town – they head off to take pix – and we head off to find a café for beer/wine and maybe a snack. We land in one of the cafes off the main square with vinho verde (my fav) and beer for Ed (cerveja de Portugal…haha) plus some great fried calamari as a snack. Then we wandered back to the ship to sail away for our last port – Ponta Delgada. Can’t believe we’re almost out of ports! How time flies!
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