We were prepared for thunderstorms all day, which would definitely have hindered the day’s experience. However, I had pre-booked everything, so we either had to ditch the idea altogether or brave the weather. No guts, no glory.
Before getting to the train station, we made our way to a café for the obligatory coffee and pastel de nata. Sure enough, just as we were about to depart, it bucketed down. Raincoats on, we headed to the train station and boarded the train. I was a little concerned about timing because our first visit in Sintra had a designated entry time, and they had clearly stated there was no flexibility if you were late. Fortunately, we made a Hop-On Hop-Off bus as soon as we got off the train, which expertly wound its way up the narrow roads to our first stop.
National Park & Palace of Pena
We got off at the main gate to the palace—lucky again—as I had pre-bought shuttle tickets that carried us right up to the palace. Perfect timing, as we joined the queue for entry right on our scheduled time of 10:30.
The weather was holding. It was very cloudy with light spits of rain, but nothing too horrible. If anything, it added a mystical feel to the visit.
I took a heck of a lot of photos but have culled them down to a few for the blog.
The palace was absolutely stunning, with a well-preserved interior and exterior—impressive, given the volume of tourists. We had a brief explore of the gardens in the park, which were also beautiful, before moving to the next location.
Moorish Castle
This ancient castle ruin sits high on a hill, offering amazing visibility of nearly 270°. While there were genuine ruins remaining, the walls have been refurbished over the centuries. It was very windy, with some precarious sheer drops when walking around the battlements, especially near the keep. It was very impressive—and by far the coolest ancient site I’ve ever visited.
From here, we took a long stroll downhill to the Palace of Sintra. Still no thunderstorms.
Palace of Sintra
This was a very interesting site with a more formal feel—it was clearly more of a residence than Pena. I was amazed that the majority of the ceilings were highly decorated, with either paintings or sculptures. Although not as brilliant as Pena, it was no less impressive. We took another stroll to the Hop-On Hop-Off station, as our next location wasn’t walkable.
Park and Palace of Monserrate
It was getting late, and I was absolutely exhausted—even Jake was showing signs of tiredness. I insisted we make the last location on our booking, and I’m very glad we persevered. This palace was stunning—not as large as the others, yet no less beautiful. The ornate rooms and lavish gardens were very well kept, and, given the distance from the other Sintra sites, there were very few tourists underfoot. We had a good explore of the dwelling and gardens before getting back on the bus and making our way back to Lisbon. The weather had behaved! Thankfully.
We stopped for a really nice, homely meal at a quaint restaurant, Tasquinha da Linha, near the station before making our way back to the accom and crashed out.
Tomorrow, we travel south to Lagos!
